Chapter 15
Olivia
Skylar walked in with a tray full of tea and delicate little teacups. Nana and I both took one, but Nana set hers down. I took a sip and followed suit. Nana clasped her hands in her lap. She looked so small and frail. All I wanted to do was protect her, but I had to have answers. And now.
“Okay,” Nana said. She looked around the room nervously. “Do you want some privacy?”
I shook my head. “No. these people want to protect and help us. It’s best if they know what they’re in for.”
Wes rubbed my back, giving me the sense that he approved of my words.
“Everything that was done was done to protect you, Livvie. That’s the first thing you need to know.” Nana grabbed my hands again. “Nothing was done in a malicious way or to hurt you. Only protection.”
I nodded. “Okay.” That didn’t mean I should be kept totally in the dark.
“You were born to a witch mother and a warlock father. And you were the first full-blooded witch in many years. The rest were half at best and stayed together to protect themselves with numbers.”
“Why aren’t there enough full-blooded witches?” I asked.
Nana waved her hand. “Not important. There aren’t enough warlocks.
But there had been a full witch years before I came to the coven.
And the other coven members had been so afraid of her power that they’d run her off.
Banished her.” She rolled her eyes. “They feared her power, pssh. They should’ve welcomed her with open arms and made her coven leader.
” She glanced at Sammy, whose chest was heaving.
“They all knew you’d be powerful, very powerful, Livvie.
They tried to shield you. Packs would fight tooth and nail to be in possession of the power you’d have.
But, despite our best efforts, word got out.
” Nana closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath.
“Leonard Mason approached us. He was an alpha and a vile creature. We could all feel it. He’d been running a pack nearby for a long time, and nobody would agree to partner with him. Everyone feared him.”
Sammy grunted, but when we looked at her, she shook her head. “Continue, please.”
Nana sucked in a deep breath. “He became obsessed with you. He’d try to bargain with the coven for you, but you were only a baby.
We convinced him to leave you in peace. But he swore he’d come for you when you were older.
” She squeezed my hand. “Leonard is not a patient man. By the time you were eight, you held more power than most of the other witches combined. Your mother and father feared you’d be shunned, so they made plans to leave on their own. But it never happened.”
“Leonard attacked the coven,” Sammy whispered.
Nana nodded. “Yes. He killed everyone but you. I was visiting your parents when he arrived at their house. They put you in my arms and entrusted me with your life. I ran, out of the back door and through the woods to my home. We got in my car and left without taking anything. Dear, I’m not your real grandmother, not by blood. ”
My heart broke when she said the words. “No,” I whispered.
Nana wiped tears from her cheeks. “But in all the ways that count, I am. We are family, you and me.”
“What happened?” I asked in a thin voice. I needed to hear the rest of it.
“I checked back as soon as possible, and everyone was dead. I knew where your parents kept a stash of money. They’d entrusted me with the secret for just such an event as what happened.
I got it, as well as some I had put away, and we left.
I put a spell on you to squash your memories. And I hid your magic.”
Skye handed us both a tissue, giving us a moment to breathe and think as we blotted our faces.
“Is there anything else?” I asked woodenly. I hoped there wasn’t more. I didn’t know how much more I could take. How much more of my childhood could she have changed or hidden? The weight of the night’s revelations pressed against me.
Nana nodded. “Yes. There had been a prophecy spoken over you by a soothsayer who had come to visit us when you were a baby. She said you wouldn’t come into your full power until you found your mate.”
Everyone in the room shifted in their seat. “What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Witches don’t have mates,” Nana said. “But she was adamant you would.” She sucked in a deep breath. “And she said your mate would have two forms. Scales and skin.”
Wes’s gaze drew me. I knew, deep in my soul, it was him. My gut stirred, leaving me breathless. I looked into his eyes, and that heartbeat thing happened again. We weren’t touching, yet I knew our hearts were thumping to the same pace.
“I had no idea Leonard had found you,” Nana said. “I would’ve intervened. I feared he would if your magic ever broke through.”
“Strange things have been happening for a while,” I said, dragging my gaze away from Wes. “Floating objects when I get stressed. I thought I was nuts, so I didn’t tell anyone.”
Nana sighed. “I didn’t sense it. I don’t know how he found you, though. I left no trail. I changed our names.”
“I think he has a witch,” Sammy said. “There’s no other way he could’ve made it through my wards without me knowing it immediately.
” She scoffed in disgust. “Even out of town, I would’ve felt it immediately.
” She looked mad as hell. “Leonard now knows we’re both in the same place. He won’t stop until he has one of us.”
She fixed her intense stare on me. “I suspect he’ll want you. You don’t have all of your magic yet. He’ll think you’ll be easier to manipulate.”
Wes growled. “I’ll rip the bastard limb from limb.” His voice had gone low and dangerous again and would’ve scared anyone to death. I felt perfectly safe and protected.
Sammy cocked her head at Wes. “You really are growing on me.” She chuckled and looked back at me. “We’re going to have to wake you up!”
I glanced from Sammy to Nana with my brows furrowed. “What, am I dreaming?”
“No, silly,” Sammy said with a laugh. “Wake up your magic.”
“I repressed her magic and even I don’t know how to do it,” Nana said.
Sammy wiggled her eyebrows and nodded her head toward Wes, making Anthony chuckle. “Let nature take its course,” she said. “Trust fate.”
Nana sighed. “We should stay together,” she said. “He could attack at any time.”
Sammy held up her hand. “No, I don’t believe so. I’ve reinforced the wards, and I won’t be going anywhere. He’s not getting in here without me knowing it. You can go home and feel safe. I’ll pop in if there’s any danger.”
Nana drew her head back and looked at Sammy, startled. “Pop in?”
“Sammy can appear and disappear at will,” Anthony said. “It’s damn annoying.”
“How do you think I got you here?” Sammy asked.
Nana shook her head. “I figured it was a fluke or something. A spell. I’ve never heard of a witch moving through space at will.”
“Well, come on. I’ll take you home.” Sammy held out her hand, but Nana gripped mine harder.
“Kitten, I’ve lied to you for a long time, but if you knew the truth, I worried your magic would get a stronger foothold. I’m so sorry. Please, please know I’ve done everything I did out of love for you. To keep you safe.”
Drawing her close, I put my arms around the older woman and hugged her. “I know. We’ve got a lot to work through, but I know you did it for the right reasons.”
It may have been the wrong thing to do, and I had a lot of hurt, angry feelings rushing around inside me, but intent meant something to me. She didn’t intend to do anything but help me.
Nana stood and took Sammy’s hand, then they disappeared in a poof. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to that.
“Would you like to go home?” Wes asked.
“I think so,” I said, looking at Skye and Anthony. “Thank you so much for your hospitality and protection, but I think I just want to get to my cottage and process.”
Skye pulled me into a big hug. “Of course. And you’re welcome here any time.”
Just as she released me, one of the twins cried out from deep inside the house. Anthony and Skye laughed. “No rest for the wicked.”
The ride to my place was quiet. I tried to think about everything I’d learned in the last couple of weeks.
It was absolute insanity how many things had changed in my life.
“Do you believe in fate?” I asked. My grandmother’s story about my magic being unlocked by my true mate kept sticking in my mind, as well as how perfect and complete I felt around Wes.
And he had skin and scales.
He was quiet for a minute. “Every dragon, well, every shifter, has a chance of finding their perfect mate. Someone fate has recognized as a match that could never be bested. And every shifter dreams of finding that person. It doesn’t happen often.
Here in Bluewater, it seems Sammy’s intense magic has disrupted the natural progression of fated mates, and several dragons found their fated mate in humans here, another rarity. ”
“But I’m not human,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, that’s the kicker. Nobody has ever heard of this.
I can only assume it’s got something to do with all the magic in the area, from having two full-blooded witches here, and your nana.
Even with your power repressed, it’s still there.
” He pulled into the bed and breakfast parking lot, then onto my little driveway.
“The first sign for a dragon that he’s found his fated mate is that a tattoo begins to form on his forearm. It’s of the clan’s emblem.”
The day we met flashed through my mind. “You grabbed your arm the first time you saw me in person.”
He parked the truck and twisted in his seat to look at me. “I did.”
His long sleeves obscured that part of his arm. “Does that mean I’m your fated mate?”
Reaching his arms out, Wes pulled up the sleeve of the long-sleeved tee and twisted his arm to show me a tattoo of a dragon surrounded by flames. I gasped and stared at it. “It’s beautiful. I never paid attention to it before.” I chuckled. “I was too preoccupied by your chest.”
“You’re my mate, Livvie,” Wes said. “I’m your fated mate.”
I stared at it for a second, then remembered how he’d treated me at first. “If you knew, why were you such a dick when you first came to Bluewater?”
He chuckled and ran his finger over my knuckles.
“It wasn’t on purpose. I had a lot to take in, and it didn’t help that I immediately found out you had a wolf sniffing around you.
” He shuddered. “The thought that you’ve been alone with Leonard so many times still makes me want to blast him with fire. ”
Ignoring the part about Leonard, I gasped at the fire part. “Can you do that?”
He nodded. “I can. Anthony’s clan are water dragons, but I’m a fire dragon, as well as Toby and Porter.”
“I wonder why Calvin…Leonard never tried to take me,” I mused, my mind bouncing from one thing to another.
“Maybe he was waiting to make sure you had powers. He could’ve been trying to see if you were really who he thought?” Wes shrugged. “I’m just glad he didn’t.”
With a sigh, I opened the truck door. “Well, let’s get inside.”
He followed me in. “Do you want me to stay?”
I was halfway to my bedroom and turned to him, surprised. “Was that not obvious?” I clasped my hands in front of me. “Wes, would you please stay with me?”
He snorted and nodded. “Yes. Go take a shower and get ready to nap.”
Dawn was close, but I was pretty tired.
He eyed the small kitchen. “I’ll make us a bite to eat first.”
I hopped right into the shower, and as I ran the washcloth over my breasts, I was surprised to find them aching. My nipples hardened as I gasped at their sensitiveness. My body was far more responsive than normal. I never got hot in the shower. Not this kind of hot, anyway.
After rinsing the soap off of my hand, I reached between my legs and stroked the sensitive nub there, crying out softly when it shot pleasure through my body.
Was I going to have an orgasm with this little bit of stimulation? Was I that turned on? I never had been before.
Pressing harder, I moved my finger back and forth over my clit, moaning against my other arm as I propped myself up with the shower.
“If you wanted to do that, I would’ve gladly helped you,” Wes said. He was on the other side of the shower curtain, but it didn’t move.
Part of me wanted to beg him to join me. “Wes,” I whispered.
“God, say my name like that again.”
I repeated his name, aching for him to touch me, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
“Faster,” he said in a deep, sultry voice.
I did exactly as he said, moving my fingers faster over my nub and biting my bottom lip against the moans that wanted to escape me.
“Wes,” I moaned as I came, my core convulsing with the orgasm and the desire for more and more.
“The next time you come, I’ll be the one doing it,” he said. The soft sound of the bathroom door closing told me he’d left.
I leaned against the shower wall and let the water wash over me. I wanted him to do exactly as he’d promised, but how could I tell him how inexperienced I was?