“We’re all heading down for food in five minutes,” Rory said, as if that would change Andrea’s mind about cleaning up.
When the bathroom door opened, Jewel saw the tub and released her leg. “Bat!”
Andrea barely glanced at Kenneth and his cousin as she followed the child into the bathroom. She closed the door behind them.
Chapter Seventeen
The hotel restaurant overlooked the swimming pool. A row of glass windows flanked the booths along one wall. Their round table happened to be situated at a perfect angle so that every time Kenneth glanced past Jewel’s head in Andrea’s direction, he saw the water.
He couldn’t lose a daughter again. His heart couldn’t take it.
Kenneth had witnessed the fear on Andrea’s face as she carried Jewel through the water. She’d been right. Jewel wasn’t prepared for an ordinary world, but what child was? Parents were meant to keep their children safe. He couldn’t help but feel like he’d failed his daughter, all his daughters.
No parent should have to carry this much heartache.
Even so, Andrea had not deserved his anger earlier. He didn’t blame her. He blamed himself.
Kenneth placed his hand on top of Jewel’s head. She smiled up at him, completely innocent and unaware of the turmoil her playfulness had caused. She waved a chicken strip in his direction, offering to share.
“Eh, give me that.” Euann reached across to swipe the food.
Jewel giggled. She then reached to grab French fries off Andrea’s plate.
“Hey!” Andrea pretended to protest.
Jewel shoved the fries in her mouth, giggling harder.
After dinner, as they went back to the room, Erik and Rory argued over who would sleep on the cot.
“Are they all sharing the same room?” Andrea asked. Erik and Rory’s discussion could be heard continuing down the hall.
“There were only two rooms left. Apparently, there is a national carpet salesman conference in town.” Kenneth motioned his hand toward their door to unlock it. Lightning flashed outside the window at the end of the corridor. He carried a sleepy Jewel with one arm as she rested against his shoulder.
“Well, we can’t miss that,” Andrea drawled sarcastically. “It sounds like the event of the season.”
Once they were inside, he laid Jewel on a bed, tucking her beneath the covers. He gestured for quiet before taking Andrea’s hand and leading her to the bathroom and shutting the door. The space wasn’t exactly the romantic spot she deserved, but it would have to do. He made a promise to himself that he’d make it up to her.
“I know what you’re going to say,” Andrea started before he could find his words. “I’m sorry. I have a big mouth. I know that. My sisters tell me I’m bossy all the time. I don’t mean to be. It just happens when I get worked up. I had no right to tell you how to raise your daughter.”
“Thank ya,” he managed.
She nodded.
“I mean,” he cupped her cheek, “thank ya for caring. Thank ya for saving her life. I’m glad ya were there when I wasn’t. Thank ya for speaking your mind and reminding me that I need to start thinking of all the normal risks in Jewels life, not just the magickal ones. Thank ya for standing up to my ma and Aunt Cait. I don’t know how ya got them to listen to ya. I’ve been trying for two years to get them to lift the house arrest. I know ya didn’t ask for any of this. I’m sorry I wasn’t my best self earlier when I spoke to ya.”
“I understand. You had to be terrified that Jewel…” Andrea gave a worried look toward the door. “She’s a special girl.”
Kenneth brushed his thumb over the corner of her mouth. He’d never seen anyone so beautiful or caring in his life. He’d sensed it in her, even as he’d been frozen like a statue in the front hall of the mansion when Jewel was a baby. The pieces fit. A force beyond them drew them together, compelled her to come to him. Whether it was magick, or fate, or something he could never understand, he knew it was real.
“I’m sorry this is abrupt.” Kenneth again touched her mouth.
“Abrupt?” She furrowed her brow, not following his thought process.
“I love ya,” he stated.
Her breath caught. “I wasn’t, ah…”
“I know I might sound irrational after the fight we just had, but with all the uncertainty we face, I need to tell ya how I feel.” Kenneth didn’t care. So what if he sounded crazy? “It’s like I told ya before. Living with magick is complicated. I have no need for games between—”
Andrea silenced him with a kiss. He realized she didn’t say it back, but he hadn’t expected her to. Her words had slipped when he’d been frozen on the floor. He’d heard them, even if she wasn’t ready to tell him. His love was not conditioned upon hers. That’s not how love worked.
What they had was real. Not everything needed to be said to be understood. Humans often worked on a different timeline than immortals. Some things could be felt. The way she touched him, looked at him, and sighed against his lips told him more than words could. She cared for him. She wanted him.
Their heavy breathing filled the bathroom. He rotated her in the small space, pressing her against the sink counter. She pulled at his shirt, lifting it over his head. Her eyes met his, filled with the same passion he carried inside.
The attraction he felt for her was more than magick or spells. He knew what it was like to be entranced. This was not that. Yes, she was as beautiful as any enchantress, and as alluring as any siren, but Andrea did not contrive or manipulate. She owned her imperfections and did not let them stop her. Her human heart beat with an empathy he’d rarely seen. That much had been evident in the way she spoke of her family on the drive, in how she interacted with his family.
How could Kenneth not be in love with a woman like that?
She tugged her shirt over her head and threw it aside before pushing her pants from her hips. Kenneth let his magick swell. His clothes melted from his body only to appear on the floor in a pile.
He lifted her so that her ass landed on the edge of the sink. Ripe nipples called to his mouth. Cupping her breasts, he drew one between his lips. She moaned as her hands worked against his shoulders, kneading him in her passion. He kissed his way up her shoulder to her neck. When he peeked through his closed lids, he saw her naked back in the bathroom mirror.
She pressed her hands into the counter and lifted her hips. He cupped her ass, drawing his body to hers. The feel of her sex made him mindless with need.
Kenneth turned her so she pressed against the bathroom door and her legs wrapped his thighs. He rocked into her. Nails bit into his flesh, scratching his back and sliding into his hair. He tried to kiss her but their lips did not stay locked with the motion of their bodies.
Andrea gasped, making a small noise of pleasure as she met her climax. It was all the encouragement his body needed. Her release fueled his magick, making him feel as if he could conquer the world. He came inside her, giving himself over to her completely.
Her back slid down the door as he lowered her to the floor. They breathed hard in unison.
A small smile graced her lips as she looked up at him. “That was fun.”
He was about to answer when he heard the sound of a door. Her eyes widened. She’d heard it too.
Kenneth gestured his hand up his chest, calling his clothes to cover his body as he reached to open the bathroom door. Andrea darted behind him to grab her clothes. When he went into the room, the door was open. He glanced toward the bed. Jewel was gone.
Kenneth hurried to the door, but instead of the hotel he saw the upstairs hallway of his home. Jewel walked away from him missing the tights where Andrea had fastened the bracelets.
“Kenneth?” Andrea asked. “Who is it?”
Kenneth ran after Jewel, passing through the portal.
“Wait,” Andrea said behind him.
His feet hit the MacGregor hallway carpet and he swooped Jewel into his arms. Andrea bumped into his back. In unison, they turned towar
d the hotel room door, but it had disappeared.
Jewel gave a big yawn and lifted her arm toward her room. “Night, night, da.”
In that one instant, the entire day of driving had been erased.
“I…” Kenneth looked helplessly at Andrea. She wore unfastened jeans, an inside-out t-shirt, and from what he could tell no bra.
“Well…” Andrea shrugged, clearly at a loss. “I guess that solves who has been making the portals. Looks like Jewel wanted her own bed.”
Kenneth carried Jewel to her room.
“Who’s here?” Raibeart’s voice came from the hallway. “Andrea? You’re back from your trip already? How long was I asleep?”
Kenneth laid Jewel in her bed and gave her a quick kiss on the head.
“Jewel wanted to come home,” Andrea answered.
Going to the hall, Kenneth said, “Raibeart, I need ya to call Erik and tell him to take care of the hotel room for us. Let him know Jewel opened a portal and brought us back here. Make sure he finds Jewel’s bracelets.”
“A portal? Ya don’t say.” Raibeart nodded and gave a small laugh. “Playful little thing, isn’t she?”
If he wasn’t mistaken, there was pride in his uncle’s voice.
“What about West Virginia?” Andrea asked.
Kenneth ran his hands through his hair. “Raibeart, tell Erik to keep going. If we can’t go there, he’ll need to find Trina and get her to come to us. Make sure he knows that we need him to hurry. These portals are new. She’s never done anything like this before. With nothing to bind Jewel’s powers, I’m not sure we can continue to keep her safe.”
“Nothing is going to harm that baby,” Raibeart stated, even as he materialized a phone to make the call. “I’ll stay with her.”
Andrea touched his arm. “Maybe we should have Jewel sleep with us tonight so we can feel if she wakes up.”
Kenneth nodded. “Raibeart, Andrea is right. I’m immune and Andrea is human. Jewel can’t tap into more magick with us, not like she did with Murdoch. It’s safer if everyone else stays away for now.”
Raibeart nodded but didn’t appear as if he liked the decision. “I’ll call Erik.”
“Oh and tell him to be careful. The mountain witches don’t like visitors,” Kenneth instructed.
Raibeart waved his hand as he walked away, holding the phone to his ear.
When they were alone, Kenneth said, “We can’t let Jewel out of our sight. If that portal had not led home… If we hadn’t seen it… If she would have walked through—”
Andrea tightened her grip on his arm. “None of that happened. She’s here. She’s safe. We’re not going to let anything bad happen. We’ll do whatever we need for her to be safe. In a couple of days, Erik will be back with Trina and we’ll get this figured out. Get Jewel and bring her to our bed. We got this.”
Kenneth nodded. “Ya can sleep first. I’ll stay up and watch her.”
Chapter Eighteen
A couple of days chasing after an energetic magickal child left Andrea exhausted. Each second Jewel had to be carefully watched. All it would take is one portal and the child could disappear forever. Andrea had no idea how Kenneth managed raising Jewel three times on his own. The portals might have been a new power, but they weren’t the only thing of concern.
Though they could technically leave the house, Andrea didn’t want to. Thunderstorms raged, slamming the town with a torrential downpour and darkening the landscape under its gloom. Flood warnings were issued and people were told to stay indoors.
Andrea had tried to focus on Jewel and Kenneth, but the cold hand of fear gripped her chest with each strike of lightning and boom of thunder. She remembered all too well what it felt like to be in the swamp, facing Mama Cecile. The entity might not be who she thought, but something had attacked her. That was very real. Hopefully, once they put the bracelets on Jewel permanently, the phantom would go away forever.
She stared at the dark window, watching as light flashed against the wet pane. The fear and coldness she carried since that day would not leave her. So if Cecile wasn’t a ghost, and if Jewel hadn’t created her to lure Andrea to the mansion, then what was it?
“Andrea?” Kenneth’s hand slipped onto her shoulder. He laid next to her on the bed. Cait read quietly in Jewel’s room, watching as the child slept. She would get them if the child woke up. “What are ya doing awake? Ya need sleep. Ya can’t keep staying up like this.”
“I feel it outside,” Andrea whispered.
Kenneth shot out of bed, leaping over her to land on the floor before hurrying to the window. Blue lights wound his fingers as if preparing to fight. He leaned against the pane, searching the yard below. Lightning flashed a couple of times before he finally turned back to the bed. He extinguished the magick around his fingers. “I don’t see anything.”
Andrea hugged the covers against her chest. “It’s in the storm.” She shivered. Her eyes burned from being awake too long. “Or it is the storm.”
Tick. Tick.
The sound was soft, but unmistakable.
“I hear it, ticking like a clock. It’s almost constant now.” Andrea watched Kenneth come toward her. “I think time is running out. I don’t think this storm is going to stop on its own. I think I should—”
“Don’t say ya should leave,” he interrupted. “Ya belong here.”
A tear slipped over her cheek. How could she make him understand? When he looked at her, his expression was so open, so honest. He had said he loved her, and she believed him. She had not said it back—not because she didn’t feel it, but because saying the words would make everything permanent. A man like Kenneth would never let her go if he thought she loved him. He would fight whatever came.
Tick. Tick.
As much as she wanted to hope Jewel was the cause of Mama Cecile and it could all go away, she knew that was a lie.
Maybe it was lack of sleep, or perhaps she was finally ready to admit the truth she should have always known. The ticking was a countdown, some cosmic clock warning her that the end was near. The moment Cecile had grabbed her chest she’d known she was on borrowed time. She’d been dying since that night in the swamp. Maybe that borrowed time was simply to give her a chance to stop the devastation of the apocalyptic vision.
Andrea slid off the bed, moving past Kenneth. Lightning came from several spots in the sky, like the fingers of angry gods. It struck above the forest and she watched for the trees to light up in flames. The only reason the entire woods wasn’t burning down had to be because of the rain.
Lightning flashed again, only this time instead of returning to darkness she saw the forest in ruins beneath a dust-filled sky. Smoke from dying fires rose into the heavens. The trees were reduced to ashen stumps. The end was near. She felt it’s threat like ice water in her veins.
“Andrea?” Kenneth’s warm hands on her shoulders drew her away from the vision.
“I don’t like storms,” she said, letting him guide her back to the bed. He lifted the covers so she could crawl in before he settled next to her.
Kenneth pulled her into his arms and held her close. “The storms can’t hurt ya, love. Ya are safe here. I promise.”
She wished that were true.
Chapter Nineteen
Andrea inhaled sharply as she felt hands on her face and pressure against her chest. She came from a deep and disoriented sleep. Blinking rapidly, she automatically prepared to swat whatever held her down when her eyes met with Jewel’s.
The girl pressed her face close so that their noses almost touched. “It’s okay, Andrea.”
Instead of swatting, she touched the child’s back to hold her as she turned to her side. The child dropped onto the mattress and Andrea took a deep breath.
“Jewel?” Kenneth came running into the room. His eyes met hers. “I’m sorry. She wanted to know where ya were and I tried to tell her to let ya sleep.”
“It’s okay,” Jewel repeated, petting Andrea’s hair, as if trying to comfort her.
Her words were increasingly easier to understand, so unlike the babbling of that first day.
“What are you doing, cuddle bug?” Andrea suppressed a yawn. “Do you want breakfast?”
Jewel grabbed her face. Her eyes were wide as she said, “It’s okay.”
Andrea frowned. Lightning flashed but the storm seemed less angry.
Kenneth scooped his daughter into his arms and began carrying her from the room.
“Wait.” Andrea swung her legs off the bed and moved to follow them. “Jewel, what’s okay?”
Jewel pointed out the open door.
“What are ya doing to my home?” Margareta MacGregor cried.
Kenneth’s eyes met hers.
“Do you think your brothers are back with Trina?” Andrea wondered aloud.
They hurried to investigate the commotion. By all accounts, Trina’s presence would not be welcomed by Margareta.
“Easy, sugar bee, the spirits spoke and we must listen.”
“Aunt Florence?” Andrea darted past Kenneth and Jewel. What was she doing here?
She looked down at the main hall as she rushed past the railing to the stairs. Ruth was sprinkling brick dust along the base of each window, dirtying the pristine marble floors. Margareta was trying to get to her but Florence was holding up a fistful of charms as if to keep back a demon.
“Aunt Florence, Grandmama Ruth, what are you doing?” Andrea didn’t stop until she’d passed Margareta. “Florence, please don’t point those at her.”
“Are you sure?” Florence cocked a brow. “There’s a lot of anger in that one.”
“It’s not anger,” Margareta quipped. She flung her hand and shot a tiny blast of magick at Ruth to knock the jar of brick dust from her hand. “It’s irritation. I don’t appreciate people breaking into my home and dumping dirt all over the place.”
“We have never broken into a place in our lives,” Ruth huffed, going after the jar as it rolled away from her. She’d left her shoes by the front door and her stocking feet shuffled on the marble.
Magick and Mischief (Warlocks MacGregor Book 7) Page 14
