“Voo…” Hunter pointed at it with a pair of tongs, clicking them together a couple of times. “Doo!”
Aurora lifted her arms into the air and reached towards the envelope, it fluttered gently into her waiting hands and settled there. She giggled again.
“Open it.” Jax reached out to remove the clip from her hair and shove it in his pocket.
“We need everyone here first,” Aurora said, blowing her fringe out of her eyes, and throwing a fake glare at Jax.
“I’m cooking steaks, they’re on their way,” Hunter told her.
“Ok,” Aurora slid a finger under the seal of the envelope, she tore the paper just as the meat began to sizzle on the stove. Shifters appeared from every direction, following their noses to the kitchen.
“Told you!” Hunter grinned.
Aurora tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter.
Harrington Hall, tonight, at the witching hour.
I look forward to meeting you all,
Veronica Harrington
“She’s invited you to Harrington Hall.” Melaina was visibly excited at the thought of seeing the woman who had acted as a mother to her again.
“Yeah, if we can find the place,” Aurora said.
“We searched the entire woodland this afternoon, in human and shifter form. Rory couldn’t even see the place from the air.” Jax informed the group.
“That’s because it’s cloaked,” Lykos told them. “You can only see it if you are a witch or have been invited to visit by a witch. Now that you’ve been invited, Harrington Hall will be there in all its glory when we arrive.”
“Told you,” Melaina said.
“Voodoo!” Hunter said and began flipping the steaks. “Steaks are almost done.”
The kitchen became a hive of activity as the group moved around, grabbing side dishes from the fridge, cutlery, plates, and drinks, to prepare for dinner. Each one of them moved seamlessly around the others like a well-oiled machine, no bumping or anyone grabbing for the same thing. It all just fell into place. Aurora watched her warriors worked together without a hint of rivalry or aggression towards each other. Jax reached around Hunter to place a serving dish on the counter for the steaks. Cole opened the fridge and without turning to check that someone was there, began passing items to Zane who put them on the table. Marco, with a pile of plates in his hands, scooted around Lykos who instinctively moved his body out of the way while laying cutlery on the table.
Could it be their bond? She now had a connection to Lykos and assumed she would eventually have the same link with all of them. Would the men all have that ability among themselves too? As far as she knew, Jax, Cole, Marco, Hunter, and Zane hadn’t been able to communicate that way. Was she the connecting factor or would it have worked automatically once they all came together as her warriors? Had Lykos been the key?
“You just going to stand there and stare at our manly butts all night, bird girl?” Hunter nudged Aurora with his shoulder, breaking her train of thought.
“Hmm,” she murmured, blindly taking the seat next to Jax at the table. Hunter sat on her other side. When everyone was settled and all the work had been done, Caspian sauntered in and took the final seat at the table, on Lykos’s left.
“Heavy thoughts, Koraki?” Lykos asked, leaning over to fill her glass with water.
“You were all working together. This many people trying to get a meal on the table should have been chaos, but it was like you were anticipating each other’s movements. You knew where everyone was,” Aurora voiced her thoughts.
“What are you saying?” Zane piled potato salad onto his plate and without being asked, passed it across the table to Marco who was waiting for it.
“There!” She pointed at the bowl as Marco took it.” You knew Marco wanted the potato salad. He didn’t ask you for it, you just gave it to him.”
“Marco always wants potato salad,” Zane reasoned.
“Ok, but when Hunter was serving up the steaks, Jax got him out a serving plate and put it next to him without asking. Cole, you were handing stuff from the fridge to Zane without even knowing he was there to take them. You didn’t look, you didn’t speak to each other. You just did it.”
“You think we all speak mind control, sis?” Marco put down the potato salad to look at his sister.
“I think it’s possible. I mean, it would make sense, wouldn’t it?” She looked around the table. “Jax and I have always had some kind of connection, so forget that for now. This morning, we discovered Lykos and I can communicate through our minds too.”
“Because we are bonded, perhaps?” Lykos baited.
“Don’t start, old man,” Aurora warned. “It follows that, at some point, I will have that connection with all of you, so why wouldn’t you all have it with each other?”
“She could be right,” Jax agreed. “We’ve always worked perfectly as a team, never get in each other’s way, always know who’s doing what and when.”
“That’s true,” Hunter said, around a mouthful of steak.
“So, how do we open the link?” Zane asked.
“I don’t know,” Aurora sighed, cutting the meat on her plate, and shoving a forkful into her mouth while she pondered the idea.
“Our link opened while we were angry with one another,” Lykos pointed out.
“Right, so we should beat the shite out of each other and wait for it to happen,” Jax said, with sarcasm.
“I’m merely pointing out that it happened when emotions were running high. If you’d like to try beating the shite out of one another, I’m more than willing,” Lykos retaliated.
“You know what, I already ate this afternoon. Let’s go,” Jax put down his cutlery and made to stand.
“That’s fine with me, I’ll work up an appetite.” Lykos matched his movements.
“One beating obviously wasn’t enough for you,” Jax sneered, placing both hands on the table and pushing his chair out.
“Shit, did I miss a fight between you two?” Caspian asked, piling coleslaw onto his plate.
“Do you think I can’t best you, little king? I wasn’t even trying.” Lykos stood, he and Jax glared at each other silently.
The shifters around the table watched with interest, as Lykos and Jax locked eyes across the table, silently powering for dominance.
“Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me!” Jax suddenly burst out.
“Gamo!” Lykos swore in Greek and dropped back into his seat. He resumed eating as though nothing had happened.
“You connected!” Aurora grinned.
“Shut up!” Jax sulked and slumped back into his seat.
“Huh, so basically, we get Lykos to piss us off and we connect with him. That’s all very well but the rest of us actually like each other,” Marco thought out loud.
“I don’t like you, who said I liked you?” Hunter curled his lip at Marco.
“I see what you’re doing, but I know you like me,” Marco winked at Hunter. “I’ve shared a room with you, you say my name in your sleep.”
“Yeah? Would that be the same way you moan Cole’s name while you’ve got your dick in your hand?” Hunter shot back. Cole laughed but didn’t take the bait. “Begging for his horse’s cock to slide in…”
“Uh, what have I done?” Aurora shook her head and smiled gratefully at Zane when he reached behind him, into the fridge, and passed her a beer.
Chapter Sixteen
The witch brings knowledge.
Knowledge is not without difficulty.
The turreted roofs of Harrington Hall skimmed the tallest branches of the Douglas Fir trees that surrounded it on all sides, casting haunting shadows on the ground beneath the light of the full moon. The gravelled driveway crunched under the wheels of the vehicles that approached the covered porch of the intimidating old house. It carried an ominous and menacing energy, a house you didn’t want to visit, let alone live in.
“Are we sure she’s not a dark witch?” Aurora asked, warily lookin
g up at the house, while the shifters climbed out of the two cars.
“Pay no mind to the house, Koraki, it is designed to give you that feeling.” Lykos spoke from experience, having visited the house on several occasions.
“I still don’t understand how you couldn’t find it again. I mean, Mel lived here.” Marco made his mistrust apparent, again.
“When you leave Harrington Hall, all memory of its whereabouts is erased from your mind,” Zane informed them. “It’s a protection spell, put in place by the first Harrington witch.”
“Then how did you know to come to Frost Ford?” Aurora wanted to know.
“That information is disclosed to the Laignach Faelad. The organisation goes back to the origins of the Morrigan prophecies. The Harrington witches are the oldest family of witches in existence. We have long been connected to them,” Zane explained.
“Creepy,” Hunter murmured, watching Melaina, who was staring up at the turrets with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.
The door opened with a long, loud creak and out stepped a woman in the twilight of her life. She had waist length white hair and wore a floor length green, velvet dress. Her eyes scanned them all, but her first real look was for Melaina.
“My daughter,” she held out her hands and Melaina let out a sob, running up the steps to fall into the woman’s embrace. The two held on to each other as though it were their last moments on Earth, tears flowing openly and unashamedly.
Jax wound his arms around Aurora’s shoulders from behind, feeling the emotion flooding forth in his mate. Together they watched the intimate moment between two women, who were essentially mother and daughter. Aurora rarely showed emotions such as this openly, she hid them and let them out privately. Yet this moment affected her deeply. She reached up and laid her hands over his arms, squeezing slightly and letting him know she appreciated that he was there for her. He held her even after the moment passed and the women separated, the two of them lingering at the back of the group.
Veronica Harrington descended the steps of the porch, her eyes on Zane, who returned her look with one of affection and admiration. They hugged and exchanged a few quiet words, her voice tinted with magic that hid her words even from the other nearby shifter ears. She then turned to Lykos and greeted him in much the same way. Moving first to Cole, then to Marco and Hunter, she greeted each warrior by name, before finally turning her attention to Aurora and Jax.
“The infamous raven queen and her king. Well, aren’t you a sight?” She smiled and approached them, reaching up to rest her hands on top of Aurora’s, where they held Jax’s arms, still around her shoulders. The older woman looked wistfully at Aurora for a few moments, caught in a memory she could not share. “Powerful, so powerful, it rolls off you into the air. The energy that surrounds you two is immense, but it’s not at its strongest yet. You must rectify that, children. Your love is untainted, do not hesitate and allow it to become so. Never doubt you belong together.”
Having imparted her wisdom for only their ears, she turned to the group. “Let us not stand on ceremony, Raven Pack, the kettle is hot and we have much to discuss.”
“Raven Pack?” Aurora whispered, as they followed Veronica towards the house.
“I like it,” Jax caught her fingers his and brought her hand up to his lips, planting a kiss on her knuckles. “It fits us.”
Veronica Harrington lived a simple life, growing her herbs and tending to her multitude of cats. The enormous house, she told them, was cold, lonely, and void of life since her children, both born and fostered, had flown the nest. She had hoped it to be filled with family and grandchildren by now. Her dreams of sitting in her rocking chair on the porch, watching the grandchildren grow, had been ripped away from her by the vampire king. A rancid beast who gave her the urge to spit after speaking his name but she would not grant him the satisfaction. Her remaining grandchildren visited when they could, being embroiled in human life and unaware of their heritage, “as it had to be” she told them. Her focus in life now was to watch over the cursed town of Frost Ford, as had been her family’s legacy for centuries.
“Cursed?” Aurora repeated and turned to Jax. “I knew I felt something today when we were in town. Like a black cloud hanging over it.”
“It is unbreakable, I fear. A lot of the burnings took place here during the great war. Many of the witches who were put to the stake placed curses on the town’s occupants as they died. At the time, it was just. Now, these people do not deserve the wrath of generations passed. They are good people with heavy secrets and broken lives.”
“Can you not lift it?” Jax asked, enraptured by the older woman and her tale.
“Sadly, no. My family tried for centuries, only to fail. It is not easy to remain hidden and perform such strong magic, many of them were hunted and killed for their so-called crimes. More recent generations of my bloodline concluded that the only thing they could do was protect the town as much as possible. It was thought that my grandchildren, the triplets, would hold the power to break the magic of so many, but they were not destined to live out their prophecy. Two do not have the power of three. For Frost Ford, hope is lost, I’m afraid. I do what I can to help the town survive, meddling a little here and there, helping them find their way through the darkness, but that is all I can do. While the curse remains, darkness will reign in Frost Ford. But this is not why you are here.”
“No, it’s not,” Zane affirmed.
“Do you have the dagger with you?” Veronica asked.
“Yes.” Aurora drew the blade from inside her jacket and laid it on the table in front of her.
“You believe it came from your father?” Veronica looked at Lykos, as she picked it up and ran her fingers across the blade.
“Is that not correct.?” Lykos asked, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his knees.
“Not quite.” Veronica smiled, cryptically. “This blade belonged to your Grandmother.”
“My…?” Lykos appeared lost for words. Aurora reached out a hand to lock their fingers, feeling his hurt and confusion through their bond.
Veronica shared a look with Jax who, also feeling the emotions coming from Lykos, controlled his urge to pull Aurora’s hand away. The witch smiled and bowed her head, approving of his restrained actions.
“The Magissa coven of Crete were well known. They were Greece’s most powerful and feared witches, until the coming of the vampire king.” Veronica watched Lykos pieced together her hints.
“Magissa means witch in Greek. It was my mother’s maiden name and my grandmother’s too,” Lykos spoke quietly. “It never occurred to me that it had any significance.”
“You descend of the Magissa coven, white wolf, much power runs through your veins.”
“It makes sense,” Aurora squeezed his hand and he looked at her. “How else would your grandmother have known how to make the potion to suppress your alpha gene?”
Lykos frowned, drawing strength from Aurora, while he thought through what had been revealed and came to terms with it.
“A look into all of your family histories would not go amiss.” Veronica looked around the room at the group of shifters. “I cannot give you everything, only tell you to seek what is out there to find.”
“Now you sound like my grandmother.” Aurora laughed and looked at Marco. “We always joked that she was a witch.”
“Indeed,” was all Veronica said before she continued. “The potion you need is not in my power but you already knew that.”
“We suspected,” Zane admitted.
“My part in this is to give you information, not magic. I will contact Addie and Xander for you, I have no doubt they will jump at the chance to assist. However, you must promise me that you’ll be sensitive to her fragility. She is powerful, incredibly powerful, as is Xander.” Veronica looked at Jax and Aurora. “You two could learn much from them, your meeting has been a long time coming. Addie is also only recently beginning to recover from her illness. I cannot see her spiral
again and Xander’s wrath is not one you want to face if any harm should come to his mate.”
“You have my word,” Zane vowed.
“As you have mine,” Lykos affirmed.
“We will not put your family in danger,” Aurora promised.
Veronica paused before speaking again, seemingly inspecting Aurora, wanting to say more, the words fading on the tip of her tongue. She breathed in a cleansing breath and nodded, coming to peace with whatever inner battle she had just fought.
“Go back to your safe house and wait, they will contact you when the full moon ends.” Veronica reached out to take the hand Aurora had now removed from Lykos’s. “I must speak with you alone, my queen. Do not tell me that is not your title, you are a queen of your own making. Whether you choose it or not, your actions confirm it.”
Aurora nodded and assured Jax and the team she was fine with Veronica, trusting her in spite of the unspoken fear they had of leaving her alone. Even Zane and Lykos, with their shared history with the witch, hesitated in walking away from their queen. Melaina and Veronica bid each other a tearful farewell, with Veronica assuring Melaina that they would see one another again. When the room was empty but for the two of them, Veronica turned to Aurora and spoke.
“Prepare yourself, emotional times lie ahead for you and your pack. There will be a lull in the storm while you put the pieces together, but do not drop your guard. You must come together as a team, allow your warriors to show their strengths, work hard on the bond you all share. The love of your mate and the strength in your mate bond will guide you both. Be aware that the next part of your journey is one of great revelation, beginning here, with the information I must impart.” Veronica paused to ensure her words were understood. Aurora nodded, urging her to continue. “You are one of three queens, this you know. I saw that the vampire shared with you his knowledge of the vampire queen, it is time I shared mine.”
“The Fae?”
“No, not Fae, no Fae are involved in this version of the prophecy. Their actions during the great war determined their own future, disconnecting it from the rest of the supernatural world. Your third queen is a witch and has been in your company from the beginning of your journey.”
The Raven Queen Page 40
