Broken Souls (Book of Shadows)

Fifteen

Fifteen

HER

I am used to being behind enemy lines. Dayne and I have accepted numerous contracts to kill government officials all around the world. So when I head down to make breakfast the next day, and Sau is already there (as she always is), I smile at her as if I know nothing of her animosity towards me.

She smiles back.

And there is no crack in her mask.

Nothing to tell me she hates me.

My skin prickling with just how deep behind enemy lines I am, I grab five packets of bacon out of the fridge.

“Oh, thanks, but I don’t need any bacon out. I’m making waffles,” she says, nodding at the bowl of mix in her hands. Waffles are Varius’ comfort food. An apology for whatever she was planning to do after she blackmailed me – as she absolutely does not need what’s in the ledger to fuck her sons over. She ruled this Family for over a decade, between when Caden left and before Varius was of age, and there are rumors that she ruled before then too – behind closed doors, behind her husband’s face.

The fact that she isn’t dead, though, tells me she wasn’t planning on hurting any of her sons, so I’m not a straight-up bitch to her. I’m just mostly one.

“He wants bacon and egg sandwiches,” I say.

“Did he say that?”

“He likes burgers.” That’s what he told me the first time he tried to flirt with me, and on our first date, we went out for burgers. That ended with him emasculating the waiter and tattooing my pussy. Aw. Romantic, loving times.

I shrug. “These are kind of burgers.”

“He likes waffles.”

I shrug. “Guess you could make some waffles to go with my burgers, but that’ll probably make him feel like you’re trying to make him choose between me or you.”

Her eyes narrow ever so slightly.

“And he sure as hel chose me last night.”

Her lips purse. “You know.”

“Yep.” Not quite true. Well, a blatant lie, really. He hasn’t told me shit other than having said her name in answer to my question, but she doesn’t need to know that. I grab a knife and stab it straight into the first packet of bacon, then rip it down the full length of the plastic.

A smile twitches at her lips. “If that is an attempt at a threat, girl, you –”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m making breakfast. What I’m not doing is causing a rift between you and him. So –” I smile brightly as I gesture at her with the knife. “Make your damn waffles.”

Her smile falls. She puts the bowl down. Varius must’ve properly ripped into her last night.

“I’ll get the eggs then,” she says.

As much as I want to tell her to fuck off and watch me serve him and be everything he wants, I don’t. One, Varius does not show his affection publicly. And two, I have to live with the bitch. She could have just decided I wasn’t good enough for her boy. Varius is the first of her children to get married as far as I’m aware. There was one other kid of hers who got close, but he got murdered at the venue. Antonio killed him while she was gone – where, I don’t know. Her past is pretty private, and I’ve only picked up bits and pieces about Varius’ siblings in the four months that I have been here. I get the feeling, though, that even her sons do not know most of her tale.

So as much as I want to hate her for blackmailing me, I don’t let myself. It’s not like Dayne and I started off great, and I trust Varius to have actually handled it. His mother or not, she has to be scared of him just a little. He has the ability to shut off even on those he loves.

Like Khalid.

And that fucker terrifies me.

“Thank you,” I say.

“Mmm.”

I turn on the frying pan. Get it hot. And as the bacon starts to sizzle, I decide to break the awkward silence. “You know, when I first met Dayne, he bit me, then stabbed me, the fucker, and now he’s my best friend.”

“By the sounds of it, he’s your only friend.”

“Wooow. Someone really is a bitch.”

“I’m a mother, which you will understand one day.”

I glance down at my flat stomach as she turns on the other stove to cook the eggs. When cooking for a house as large as this, four rings just doesn’t cut it.

“It’s been four months,” I say, and still no baby.

“It’s not uncommon for a witch to struggle to conceive. Magic kills the weak. Have you tested yourself?”

“No need. I just had my period two weeks-ish ago.”

“Period or spo–”

“Micha,” Varius says as he passes the entrance of the kitchen. He didn’t bother coming in, but his tone told me to get out there, so I glance at the bacon sizzling in front of me and then at Sau beside me.

“Will you please not burn these?”

She stares at me for a second, then nods. “Go.”

“Thanks.” Wiping my hands on my unicorn and rainbow-shit apron, I head out to find Varius.

He’s in the living room. Seeing me, he walks out onto the front porch, and I follow.

“You’re leaving today. Going up north to talk to your father.”

“Was there something wrong with his meeting with the Mattos twins?” I was up there a couple weeks ago, setting that up. They hold a monopoly on Ricks distribution in the entire eastern half of the USA. Ricks are magical drugs that change the user’s penis into something fancy. You can get ridges, vibrating parts, cum sacks, G-spot hooks – you name it. They can even change the taste of both the appendage itself and the cum that shoots from it, and if a guy is really feeling lucky, he can double stack them to grow a second dick.

I haven’t tried one, bit too scared of them, and Varius doesn’t do drugs. Drugs lead to addiction, and addiction is a synonym for weakness. But I can admit to being curious. And potentially up for trying Vs – the vagina equivalent. They vibrate, taste delicious, and rearrange your organs so you can take monster dicks without being split in half, so you can get fucked in your cervix or have your belly balloon with cum. Some of them even help with pregnancy, storing sperm for weeks and releasing them at the optimal time of a woman’s cycle.

“No. But we need men for this war. I don’t want to rely on Aleric for everything.”

“Your meeting with him is today?”

“Yes.”

“So shouldn’t I wait until tomorrow? Otherwise, it’s just your mom here.” I lower my voice even though there’s no one else outside. “Do we trust –”

“Yes.”

I really want to ask him why she blackmailed me then, but I know he won’t answer. Being the wife of a Boss means accepting not knowing most things. So I bite my tongue and nod. “I’ll pack a bag after breakfast.” It’s an eight-and-a-half hour drive one way. “Will you be removing the belt?”

He grins. His eyes dart to my pussy beneath my dress. “No.”

“But –”

He steps in close. Ducks his head to my ear. “When you come back, little monster, you can beg me for its release.”

“Ahhh.” I swallow hard.

His nostrils flare and then he pulls me into his arms and kisses me.

I’m so shocked at his show of affection outside of our rooms, I don’t kiss him back.

Not until he growls.

Then spanks my ass, telling me I fucking better.

Smiling against his lips, I do.

Unfortunately, The kiss is over before it really starts, but it’s still the hottest one I’ve ever had.

As he leaves me standing on the front porch, I lift a hand to my lips.

And realize I’m still wearing my stupid fucking grin.

I’m five hours into my journey, having left at nine, when I get a text on my phone. It interrupts the song playing on the radio as it’s connected to the car’s stereo, and a robotic voice reads out my message.

Varius: Head back to the house now. Don’t trust Mother. Watch her while we’re gone.

My eyes dart away from the road to check the screen on my phone, needing a second confirmation that what I just heard was correct. It’s two o’clock. The meeting is in two hours. Given he hasn’t called it off or is thinking of leaving one of his brothers behind, he can’t be that worried. He’s probably just being paranoid.

He has to be.

There’s no way Khalid would be willing to leave his girl there if there was any real chance of it being dangerous.

Speaking aloud, using the microphone-to-text option on my messaging app, I tell him I’m on my way. At the next opportunity, I turn the car around, and my eight-and-a-half hour drive becomes nine due to a bit of speeding.

I’m exhausted by the time I make it back, having not even stopped for a coffee break just in case I arrived too late. I’m also hungry, so I park the car in the empty drive –the meeting with Aleric will most likely run late– and head inside, making my way towards the kitchen.

Which for some reason is smelling like a fucking sewage. Gagging right before I step through the archway, I look towards the stove, expecting some gross-ass but extremely deadly potion boiling away on the stove. I wrinkle my nose.

“Gods, that’s an awful smell,” I say.

A chair squeaks at the table, and I turn to see Khalid’s girl sitting there. She jumps to her feet, looking nervous, and I can’t help but wonder if Sau’s tried to turn her against me already.

A pang pierces my heart at that thought. What the hel did I do so wrong to make her hate me? I really thought she liked me. The only time we ever had any tension was when I asked her about Varius’ lack of magic.

A thought tickles the edge of my consciousness, but the godsawful smell coming from the stove makes it run away before I can probably think it. Lifting both hands, I weave a spell around the pot, curving the air in a bubble around it to trap the sewage smell inside. Gods, that’s so much better.

Turning to Khalid’s girl, I smile and try to make small talk, but I don’t know what to say to a woman I don’t know. She’s been here for three days, but Khalid has kept her in his room all this time. Honestly, I’m surprised she’s able to walk given I’ve seen the bulge in his pants and know he was celibate for the last two years. Plus, I bet the boy’s into some freaky shit.

Knowing I can’t say that though,I pick the first thing that comes to mind: blood bonds. It’s the only thing I know we have in common – even if no one knows it.

On second thought, though, which, of course, only occurs well into the conversation, I realize that talking about witch stuff is freaking the hel out of her. She is clearly human and has very limited knowledge of our world.

Great.

I probably just got myself put on Khalid’s short list.

A list I’m sure gets culled all the fucking time because he’s just so damn efficient at killing people.

Fuck.

“Hey, Khalid really cares about you. I know that,” I say, trying to pretend that I didn’t just infer that he didn’t care with my whole ‘then why hasn’t he told you the truth about blood bonds’ speech I just made. “And I don’t doubt for a second that he will do anything for you. But the men in this family can be really callous and selfish sometimes, so just keep that in mind. I know it can be overwhelming when they focus on you.”

She looks at me for a moment longer than is comfortable before softly asking, “Which one’s yours?”

I laugh, my heart skipping a beat. “No one is mine. But I’m engaged to Varius fucking Shadow.” At her blank look, I ask, “You haven’t met him yet, have you?” I nod. Duh. “Of course you haven’t. Otherwise, you’d understand.”

“You like him though, don’t you?” she asks.

I still, wondering if these are her questions or Sau’s. I do not know why she tried to blackmail me, but I don’t like her knowing my personal shit. Before I can straight up ask her, the bitch in question comes in with a black leather grimoire in her hands.

“Here’s a – Micha, you’re back,” she says as she walks towards us with a smile fit for a shark. “I thought you were out until tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I got back early,” I say with a cheerful grin right before telling her that I’m here for security because she’s so damn useless with her curse. Gods, I am being such a bitch, but fuck it. This is karma.

“You’re cursed?” Khalid’s girl asks.

Sau turns to me, her teeth bared. Some would call it a smile, but I sure as hel wouldn’t. Not with that look in her eyes. “Yes. I can’t use magic without it draining my life, but that doesn’t mean I won’t use it.”

Bitch, did you just threaten me?

My gaze locked on Sau, I start to stand. “I know you will die protecting her, but if I’m here, you don’t have to.” If the werewolves happen to come while the boys are gone, I can burn them all with my magic. “The wolves –”

“Don’t?” Sau cuts in, the air electrifying like a coming storm.

“Did I say that?” I cock my head to the side, but my mind is already off the conversation. I’ve just felt something – a crawl of danger across my skin, raising my hairs. My eyes flick towards the window, trying to discern what’s caused my sudden paranoia. Is it Varius through our bond? He’s with Aleric. That’d be enough to make anyone –

No.

There’s a break in the air. It’s like the white noise I never noticed has now quieted. Like the wards –

My eyes widening, I throw up a shimmering blue shield of magic. Dark-red bolts crackle around the edges of it as I stumble back. The tendrils reach for me, searching for my flesh, and I send a pulse of fire into my shield. Purple flames race out from my palm in all directions. As soon as it hits Sau’s magic, it intensifies in color and length, consuming every drop she threw at me. If I wasn’t so fucking pissed, I might’ve found all those colors beautiful.

But I thought we were friends. I thought Sau liked me. I never thought she’d blackmail me. Never thought she’d try to attack me while the boys were out. To fucking blame me for tearing down the wards – that break in the air, that halt of white noise I felt earlier. I can hear exactly what she’s planning on telling Varius when he gets back.

“I know I lied to you before, but you know I would never take the wards down. I wouldn’t risk it.”

Fucking bitch.

Lowering my hand, I watch as she runs from the kitchen. I let her go. Let her take those first few steps away from me because I am going to enjoy hunting her down. Then I am going to catch her and beat her into a godsdamn pulp.

My rage building, I take that first step. Purple fire flickers between my fingertips. I open my mouth to call her name, to let her know I’m coming, but just as the S hisses from my lips, it’s killed by a chorus of howls.

I stop, my head snapping towards the window.

They sound close.

Too close.

And the timing of this can’t be a coincidence. If it was just one wolf, then maybe. They could’ve been watching the house. Once the ward went down, they saw an opportunity to sneak in and kill the women who’ve been left on their own. A dumb strategy, but men wanting to climb the ranks and impress the Boss have done dumber things. But this isn’t just one wolf. It’s the entire fucking pack.

Meaning Sau must have gotten Antonio to be here either through trickery or by making a straight-up deal with him. Either way, I’m killing her for it. Because she clearly doesn’t want to merely frame me for her sins. She wants me dead. Or worse, taken by the wolves.

What the fuck did I do to make her hate me so much?

Biting back the urge to set the house on fire, to kill the bitch that way, I run out into the living room. I veer towards the hall, and as I enter it, I catch sight of the two women up ahead.

I start to call my magic to my palms. The wall explodes right in front of me though, sending plaster and splinters of wood flying everywhere. A werewolf’s arm has smashed a hole through the side of the house, blocking me from taking a shot at Sau.

Snarling, I grab hold of its wrist. “Get out of the fucking way,” I snap as I shoot fire up its arm, burning it into ash.

The wolf howls as it yanks away from me, leaving behind the smell of burning hair and meat. A flurry of ashen flakes drift to the floor in front of me.

Stalking through them, I catch sight of Sau just as she reaches the stairs. Pissed as all hel, I throw a black ball of magic at her. It feeds on my anger, growing in size, taking up nearly half the corridor. She turns at the last second and catches it. Then dispels it like it was nothing. I don’t know how much life she just burned through doing that because of her curse, but I hope it was fucking years.

“Keep going!” she snaps at Khalid’s girl. “The stairs are just there.”

Gods, that must be the panic talking; the girl’s one foot away from the stairs. In fact, I’m pretty sure they ran down a few steps before running back up so she could fend me off on level ground. Good. I hope Sau is fucking terrified I will kill her. Because I’m going to.

“I’ll hold Micha off,” she says.

“But –”

“Go! And after you shut the door, call Khalid.”

My heart trips over my feet. Khalid is in on this? As terrified as I am of him, of how he can kill me without even being here, it’s pain and grief that fills me. I’m going to die, and Varius is going to believe whatever lie his mother tells him. Worse, the brother he trusts, the only one left he has to trust, has also betrayed him.

Now this is fucking personal.

They’re going to hurt what’s mine.

They’re going to hurt my fucking mate.

I call on the fire I was born with, the one that eats magic, the one that can’t be put out by anything other than me, and I stalk towards Varius’ mother.

“I’m going to kill you,” I snarl as purple flames dance between my fingers.

“No, girl,” she says softly. “You’re going to die trying.”