AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Church bells, five o’clock,” Parker said.
True felt an invisible hand grip tightly around her heart as she scanned the bar to see where everyone was. Hope, Amy, Faith, Evie, and Jennifer … “Dani!” she exclaimed and headed for the kitchen.
Heath followed on her heels as she pushed through the door just in time to see Dani slip on the wet floor and disappear behind the counter. “No!” she squealed.
Dani’s back hit the tile and knocked a little of the wind from her sails. She heard True’s voice and looked up at the counter just in time to see the carving knife balanced on the edge start to fall. “Whoa!” Dani shrieked, reaching out with her magic to deflect it as she rolled away.
Dani placed her palms against the cold tile and pushed up, and the first thing she saw was the ashen face of her friend staring at her as if frozen in place. “That was close,” Dani said.
“What the hell?” Heath demanded, walking up to Dani and helping her from the floor. “Someone want to tell me what’s going on around here?”
True finally managed to catch a breath. “Five o’clock and nobody died, six perfectly fine witches – sort of,” she breathed out.
“Church bells?” Dani asked, and True nodded. “I knew it!” she said, shaking off a shiver that rolled up her spine.
Just then, the lights flickered and dimmed, and True held her breath again, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Six? Where’s Nana?” Dani asked. “She got the warning.”
True shot a panicked look at Heath. “Guesthouse,” he growled, turning on his heels and heading for the back door, with True rushing to keep up.
~
Nana wiped her wet hands down her apron and set the electric kettle down. She grabbed the plug from the counter and immediately felt the surge of electricity go through her hand, chase up her arm, and the jolt hit her like a tonne of bricks.
The jolt threw the elder through the air. Her heart had already stopped beating by the time she hit the floor on the other side of the room.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
~
Melvin was ready for round two, three, and four. His ex-wife wasn’t the easiest person to get along with, but she was scrappy, and he was always up for the fight.
Faith had reached out to him, and he’d come running. Family was family, and he’d always protect his own.
He was still tucking his shirt into his jeans when he walked into the kitchen and was startled by the alpha bursting in the backdoor with True behind him. For a long moment, nobody moved, but each man gave the other a questioning look.
Then Heath’s gaze snapped left and Melvin’s to the right as True elbowed her way by her mate and headed to Nana’s side. She knelt beside the elder’s body and checked for a pulse. “She’s not breathing!”
Panic raced through True’s body, fear gripped her heart like a tight fist, and she froze. “Ghost,” Heath growled, rushing to True’s side.
Melvin was already weighing up the options, even as he acted fast. “She was alive a moment ago; I could hear her banging around down here,” he said, as much to himself as to the others.
“Holy crap, Nana!” Hope breathed out from the doorway. She’d seen True and Heath rush off and had followed them to the guesthouse.
Melvin already had magic at his fingertips and knew what he needed to do. He sent out the kind of shock a defribulator would deliver, and Nana’s body jolted in place.
“Grandpa,” True breathed out, willing the intervention to work. She felt Heath’s hand heavy on her shoulder and could have collapsed under the weight of it had Grandpa not shocked Nana’s body into moving again.
“Come on, you old boot, don’t let me win by outliving you,” Melvin said, rubbing his hands together again before hitting her with another blast of magic.
“Five bells rung high, one will die,” True said, miserable and close to losing hope.
“Doesn’t mean we can’t get the old girl back again,” Melvin said in a tone that felt reassuring to his granddaughter.
“Zap her again!” Hope demanded from the doorway, and Melvin obliged as Heath turned a curious look over his shoulder at the witch. “It’s my fault she’s here; I don’t want this on my conscience,” Hope informed him as she rushed to Nana and pulled on her magic. “I’ll do it.”
“I’ve got this,” Melvin assured her and pulled on his magic to deliver the biggest zap yet.
Nana jolted in place and gasped in a breath. True shrieked with surprised delight; Melvin said a silent thank you to the goddess, and Hope slapped out at Heath’s solid arm. “Magic!” she said, happy that she hadn’t had a hand in killing off True’s grandmother.
