Chapter One #2
But her grandmother hadn’t seen it that way. She hadn’t understood why Emberlyn didn’t harbor the same hunger for power that had taunted her, or why Emberlyn wouldn’t join her in devoting herself so fully to the craft that she had no real life.
After Emberlyn left home at eighteen, Millicent had contacted her very rarely over the years. It had been even rarer for her to return Emberlyn’s calls or answer the door when she visited. But Emberlyn hadn’t taken it too personally – Millicent was like that with everyone.
A particularly loud sob burst out of Gill, who all but stuffed her face into a tissue.
Unreal.
‘If your grandmother’s here watching this performance, she’ll be wanting to dish out a few bitch slaps,’ said Paisley.
Most likely. ‘Millicent claimed she’d never go to her own funeral. Said it’s tacky.’
A soft motorized hum sounded as the casket was slowly lowered to the ground. The backs of Emberlyn’s eyes stung with unshed tears. Dammit, she’d thought that she was all cried out at this point.
Some wouldn’t understand how she could have loved a woman such as Millicent.
It was true that she hadn’t been kind or affectionate or loving.
But she’d fed, clothed, sheltered and mentored Emberlyn.
More, Millicent had made her strong; had ensured that Emberlyn never let others convince her that she was anything else.
It helped to know that her grandmother’s soul wasn’t totally gone, it was merely somewhere else now. A realm where only those who’d passed on could go.
A sniffle popped out of Emberlyn before she could stop it.
Paisley put a hand on her back. ‘You okay?’
‘It’s just allergies,’ Emberlyn lied.
Finally, the motorized hum switched off. The fake weeping coming from her relatives kicked up a notch. No one tossed any soil or flowers on the casket, as if wary of doing anything that might disturb and ‘wake’ the corpse.
‘Come on, let’s go,’ she urged the twins.
The three of them joined the other mourners in making their way down the hill, Emberlyn’s high heels giving her no issues – she’d mastered the art of walking in them long ago.
As they reached her car, Emberlyn tugged her keys out of her black leather purse and—
‘Quick warning,’ Kage whispered, ‘the Reeds are on their way over.’
Emberlyn tensed at the mention of her old in-laws. Shit. Hearing their footfalls behind her, she turned a little woodenly to face them.
Claris flashed her a weak smile, clutching the bottom of her dark braid. ‘We just wanted to say that we’re sorry for your loss.’
His arm curled around his mate’s shoulders, his burly figure all but swallowing hers, Colton said, ‘Michael would be here for you if he could be. And maybe one day he will.’
He looked so much like Michael – the same wide-set brown eyes, same strong nose, same chin dimple, same tawny hair – that it had once hurt to look at him. Not so much nowadays, though.
Emberlyn gave them a wan smile. ‘Thank you.’
They each dipped their chin and then walked away.
A breath easing out of her, she turned to the twins. ‘I never know what to say to them.’ She just felt so awkward around them now.
‘They’re only so nice to you because they think it’ll make you feel guilty about moving on from Michael,’ said Kage. ‘Don’t forget how they initially reacted.’
There had been yelling. Crying. A lot of howcouldyous.
Shoving that scene out of her mind, Emberlyn opened the driver’s door. ‘Let’s go get this will reading over with.’ She slid into the car.
Kage went to hop into the front passenger seat, but Paisley beat him to it, so he slid onto the back row.
Clicking on her seatbelt, Paisley said, ‘I’m still surprised that your grandmother left me and Kage something. We weren’t related to her.’
Emberlyn dumped her purse on the floor behind her seat.
‘No, but she loved annoying people. Said it fed her magick. And Gill, Dez and the others are peeved that she left something to non-relatives.’ Emberlyn gunned the engine.
‘Makes me wonder if there’s anyone else outside the family line who she’d included in her will for funsies. ’
Driving to Reena’s home, Emberlyn couldn’t stop her thoughts from drifting back to Michael. Unlike his parents, she had no belief that he’d return one day.
There had been a time when she’d used magick to try to track him; when she’d joined regular search parties or even launched her own. But she had eventually accepted that he was lost.
Unlike shifters, werewolves didn’t have fated mates. They could claim people as their mates, but no preternatural link formed. It was no different from two witches handfasting.
She’d started dating Michael in high school. He’d claimed her a year after they’d graduated. They’d moved in together, started to build a life . . . but things had gone wrong. Horribly wrong.
His parents intellectually knew that there was nothing else for her to do but consider the mating null and void – all people did in her situation. Emberlyn got why they didn’t feel good about it, though.
Finally, they neared the Welcome to Bellcrest sign.
There were four neighborhoods in Chilgrave; some separated by large wooded areas, some so expansive their boundaries ‘bumped’ that of other neighborhoods. Bellcrest, filled with Georgian-style homes, was occupied by the majority of the coven.
Each of the three werewolf clans resided at the other neighborhoods – Ashwood, Cedargrove and Elmsbrook. But witches who were mated to a werewolf sometimes lived among their clan, and vice versa.
Emberlyn had lived in Bellcrest as a kid with her parents.
Her years spent at Millicent’s manor had situated her just beyond the border of Bellcrest. Emberlyn hadn’t returned to the neighborhood at eighteen, not feeling inclined to rejoin the coven.
Instead, she’d moved to the center of the town where the schools, stores and other businesses were located – it was considered neutral territory.
Of course, she’d moved in with Michael at Cedargrove when they mated .
. . only to return to her apartment in neutral territory after everything fell apart.
Though Chilgrave was reasonably small, anything a person could need would be available here. Which was good because it was hours away from civilization. The town couldn’t be found unless one knew where to look.
Even if any outsiders did manage to stumble upon it, they wouldn’t stay long. There was no cell phone service. No internet. No cable TV.
Personally, she couldn’t imagine having a cell phone.
How did anyone get to read a book in peace?
Or play the ‘I didn’t know you’d tried calling’ game when they wanted to dodge someone?
How draining would it be to feel that you always needed to have something interesting to post on social media sites?
Fair play to them for living in that lane. Emberlyn never could.
‘There’s Mom and Dad,’ said Paisley, waving at the couple through the window.
Kage didn’t bother, keeping his gaze straight ahead.
‘Any progress with your parents?’ Emberlyn asked him.
‘Nope,’ he replied. ‘I’m enjoying the silent treatment while it lasts.
They’ll soon be up in my shit, raving about how I’ll regret my choice one day.
My only regret is not going through the Change sooner.
’ His werewolf-lover had bitten him during sex a few months ago.
Instead of using antivenom, he’d let the Change take him.
It did not surprise Emberlyn that Ethel and Thad Sanders were unhappy about their son’s decision. They didn’t have anything against werewolves per se, but they were among the few who considered wolves to be inferior to witches.
‘You don’t miss being able to talk to the dead?’ she asked Kage.
‘Fuck, no. I never got a minute’s peace, and I was tired of helping them cross over. How hard can it be to walk into a goddamn light? It’s not like you can miss it. It’s a light.’
Paisley tossed him a haughty sniff over her shoulder. ‘I still can’t believe you took the Change when you know I’ve been considering it for years. You’ve—’ She gasped as he splattered a teeny fly against the window with his hand. ‘You didn’t have to kill it.’
He wiped his palm on his pants. ‘I don’t like flies. I don’t like insects period.’
‘You need to have more respect for nature,’ Paisley reprimanded. ‘Your problem is that you can’t appreciate the beauty in anything. You should be more like me. There’s no hate in my heart. Only peace and love—’
‘And pure bullshit. You despise lots of stuff and lots of people. Including me.’
‘Why would you ever think that?’
‘Because you told me. Told me every day since you learned to speak.’
Emberlyn inwardly sighed. Neither of the twins were the type to hug, kiss or exchange kind words.
Their love language was full of cursing and put-downs and teasing I-hate-yous.
They had an airtight bond, but both went out of their way to irritate the other – a childhood habit they’d decided not to shake off, for whatever reason.
‘Enough, we’re here – you can squabble more later.’ Emberlyn pulled up outside Reena’s home. ‘The others beat us to it,’ she noted as she cut the engine, seeing a number of cars parked here.
‘Of course they did.’ Paisley unclipped her seatbelt. ‘They’re eager to find out who Millicent chose to be her main heir.’
More than likely.
‘I think Emberlyn’s right and that she left it all to Lucie,’ Kage chipped in, referring to Millicent’s cat.
Also more than likely.
Exiting the car, the three of them strode up to the front door of the beautiful Georgian home.
It was Reena’s husband who opened it. Ward was a strong witch, but not very.
Female Chilgrave witches were more powerful by nature, so the coven had always been matriarchal.
When a High Priestess handfasted, she rarely allowed her partner to rule alongside her.
Most of the time, there was, essentially, only one ‘Alpha’ in the arrangement.