AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Come to me, Josie,” Fintan pleads, his fingers rippling the surface of the magical force field as he extends a hand to Josephine. “Let’s go home.”
Her fingers twitch on top of the table, but she makes no move to get up.
Stubborn little witch.
“Josephine doesn’t have to go anywhere with you. She isn’t your prisoner anymore.” The witch who shot off the fireworks display of magic steps between me and Josephine, putting herself in the path of my reddened glare.
A brave move. Stupid…but brave.
Josephine opens her mouth to speak, but the Moon Witch leader talks over her. “Miss Dumont is a welcome guest here. You three, however, are not. You’re well out of your territory, and it’s time you leave.”
“Not without Josie.” Rune raises his palm to the open doorway over the threshold, pressing against the invisible force field keeping us out. He winces as he attempts to break through, his boots shifting in the wet dirt as he digs in to gain stronger footing.
The magic in place pulses in response, flaring to life. It forces us back a step as the barrier expands, leaving Rune breathing hard, and the three of us still stuck outside the cottage.
“I will not ask again.” The corner of the witch’s mouth turns up in a hint of a smirk, and that unshakable sense of familiarity hits me again.
Whoever this woman is, I’m certain our paths have crossed. Even her magic sparks a moment of déjà vu as she raises her hands, fingers splayed and tensed as blue lightning flicks between the digits.
I frown at the display.
That is a Beaumont family magic signature.
It can’t be.
“Auntie, wait.” A young, frail-looking witch sitting between the leader and Josephine speaks up and the lightning fades, leaving behind an electric charge in the air as the witch turns to her niece.
Half of her face is covered by a flop of pin-straight blonde hair that washes out her already pale face, her single visible eye flickering to us and away as if she can’t force herself to make eye contact. “Maybe they can help.”
The elder witch scoffs at the suggestion, her glare fixed on the three of us hovering in the doorway. “They haven’t stepped in to assist our kind once these last twenty-five years. What makes you think they would start now? The only thing vampires do is incite more chaos.”
Rune huffs, rubbing his palms against his jeans, the charred layer crumbling away to reveal fresh pink skin beneath. “Says the ones who have never?—”
“—Moon Witches,” Fintan shouts over whatever insult Rune was about to unleash on them, “are none of our business.”
He swallows, his tone is calm and placating despite his agitated stance. “But Josephine is. So, as my brother said, you will release Josie so we can take our Unity Witch home.”
I’m pleased to see Fintan’s state of fury has subsided enough for him to avoid causing more damage than we already have here.
There is a reason Fintan tackles the Sun Witch side of things while Rune sticks to minding hostilities with the werewolves. Witches require a certain amount of tact that Rune does not possess. Likewise, Fintan does not possess the throat-tearing ruthlessness it takes to deal with wolves who step out of line.
They make no move to comply, so Rune tries again. “Let us take Josephine home and we’ll leave you ladies to whatever creepy ritual you’ve got going on in the middle of a swamp. Okay? Okay.”
He motions for Josephine to join us on the other side of the doorframe, but she makes no move to get up from the table.
So damned stubborn.
“Enough of this.” My voice takes on a darker note as I access the power of my thrall. “Josephine, come here.”
She meets my gaze and stays exactly where she is, her jaw clenching as she fights my influence on her mind. Her defiance brings my anger to a boil. “Come and make me, your majesty.”
She knows full well I can’t cross the invisible barrier, otherwise I would do exactly that.
Rune’s expression hardens. “You want to stay with the people who kidnapped you?”
Josephine’s gaze loses its hostility when she looks at my brother. “I’m currently living with the last people who abducted me.”
Finn growls as his demeanor shifts from anger to hurt. “We’re past that, aren’t we?”
