Chapter 11
Sammy
My dreams were warnings. And this one was a doozy. It was the same dream I had the other night at first, but this time I could hear a bit better. What little I could make out was that Blaze was supposed to be a sacrifice.
Well, that wasn’t about to happen under any circumstances.
Then the little girl appeared. The poor thing looked terrified. Her long, black hair was scraggly and knotted, wild around her little head. Suddenly, she looked over at me. “Help us!” she screamed.
My throat burned as I woke up, raw as if I’d been screaming. Had I been, in my sleep? I needed to gather my thoughts, but all I could focus on was the rage pounding through me. I wanted to find that little girl right now. And kill the high priestess with my bare, angry hands.
Whatever that bitch was up to, she planned to hurt Blaze in the process.
I’d burn the world to the ground first. And I was powerful enough that I might just have been able to do it.
Oh. That thought calmed me down a bit. When had I become so attached to Blaze that I was willing to destroy the planet to save him? Interesting.
I reached out with my magic to feel for him. Was he safe? I would’ve known if he’d been taken out of Bluewater. That would’ve woken me immediately. I found him safe and at peace. Sleeping—and having a pleasant dream. He was emitting feelings of loving comfort.
Must’ve been nice.
I was more determined than ever to find that bitch high priestess. I wanted to know what the hell she wanted with Blaze. It had something to do with me, for sure. That made it my responsibility to keep him safe.
I didn’t cast a lot of spells. They took too much energy to do. My ward was the biggest casting I ever did, other than my poofing around. Sure, sometimes I’d send a tweak of magic here and there to help things along, but most of my magic was really more like meddling.
But if I had something of Joan’s, I could cast a spell to help me find her in a hurry. Location spells were exhausting, but it would’ve been worth it.
Too bad I didn’t have anything. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, and tried to think where I might be able to get something that belonged to the old hag.
Maybe if I paid Gage a visit in Grove Holler, he could help me find something of the old coven’s.
But then, how would I know if it were Joan’s or not?
Then it hit me. Duh! I had a member of the old coven living right here in Bluewater.
I’d go see Olivia and see if she had anything of the old clan that might help me.
Joan had been in charge then, so if she’d ever done magic near the item, I might be able to pinpoint her magical signature and use it to find her.
Content that I had a plan, I rolled over to snooze for a bit longer. No sense in losing my beauty sleep. I couldn’t go waking Olivia up to find the object, could I?
The next morning, before going to talk to Olivia, I popped over into Blaze’s bedroom.
He was in the shower, by the sound of it.
Patiently, I sat on his bed and waited, meditating, and enjoying the spicy smell that was all Blaze.
A bit of pepper and cinnamon and something clean that was uniquely him.
He walked out of the shower with a towel around his waist and not much more. Damn. The man was cut, I’d give him that. I could trace every muscle in his chest and stomach. “Hello, mate.” He grinned and sauntered over to the dresser.
“You don’t seem surprised to see me.” I arched an eyebrow, keeping perfectly cool to him, but inside I was dying, wondering if he was going to drop the towel and give me a peek.
He held out his arm, showing me the tattoo. “As soon as I touched the doorknob, it burned. I knew you were in here. I figured you’d done your little magical mode of transportation to come in here and startle me.” I smirked, but he just stared at me with his lips pursed. “You missed me, didn’t you?”
“Oh, yes, you drove me to distraction. I couldn’t wait to get over here and see you prance around naked.”
He laughed and turned toward the dresser, pulling a pair of black boxer briefs out of the top drawer. Then he pulled his towel off and set it on top of the dresser.
Oh, my heavens. His bare ass was as tight as a drum. And not a hair on it, thank the goddesses.
And he was tanned, as if he liked to spend a lot of time outdoors, except… there was no tan line. His ass was as brown as his back. My eyes lingered on his birthmark, exactly the same as the child’s I remembered, but bigger now. More stretched out.
Blaze bent to put his underwear on, and I got a shadowy glimpse of something long and overwhelming hanging between his legs.
Swallowing hard, I forced myself to keep a cool expression on my face as he turned to face me, underwear firmly in place. “Why are you blushing?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes and glared at my cocky, irritating mate.
If he irritated me so much, why were there monster-sized butterflies going nuts in my stomach? “I came to see how you were feeling,” I said, ignoring his scrutiny of the blush on my cheeks.
He furrowed his brow. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Have you had any strange dreams?” I asked, ignoring his question while asking my own.
He shook his head and sat beside me, just in the underwear.
If my eyes strayed to the bulge I could just see out of my peripheral vision, I’d cut them out and eat them.
Ew. Okay. I’d just cut them out.
“Can I ask you something?” Blaze said in a soft voice.
Turning on the bed, I kept my gaze on his face, firmly refusing to look any lower than his chin. “Yes.”
“Can you see the past?”
I knew what he was asking. He wanted to know if I knew the truth about him and his family. “I can’t see anything you don’t want me to see,” I said. “Or anything you’ve blocked yourself from seeing.”
His shoulders slumped. Oh, damn, I looked at them.
But my heart wasn’t made of ice. I hated to see him in pain. “Blaze, if you’re Knox, you’ve blocked the memories of your childhood. There’s probably a reason for it.”
He shook his head. “I want my memories back. I want to know the truth.”
I reached out before I knew what I was doing and put my hand on his shoulder. Holy goddess, he was so warm.
Of course, I knew dragons would run hotter than humans or witches, but I tended to be cold, so the idea of him always being warm was incredibly appealing. “If you want the truth then we will find the truth, okay?” I smiled encouragingly.
Blaze grinned, and the sight of it warmed me inside as much as his shoulder had warmed my hand. Oh, damn the man. “Awesome. What do we do to find the truth?”
“We need to visit someone,” I said. “Get dressed.”
“We? You want me to come?” His eyebrows went up and an annoying hopeful look appeared in his eyes.
But I found I wasn’t quite as annoyed as I might’ve been at the idea of him going with me. Glaring at him, I decided to bring him down a notch. “I figured you were craving my attention. Maybe I was wrong.”
He didn’t reply for a second, so I was about to poof out of the room when he opened his mouth to speak. “I was craving your attention. You’re absolutely right.”
Oh. Well, then. “Well? Why aren’t you dressed?”
Blaze jumped up, chuckling, and pulled on his jeans. When he finished dressing and came out of the bathroom with his hair brushed and minty fresh breath, I poofed us to Olivia’s front porch.
I’d already texted Livvie and asked her to meet me there. She waited on the glider with a cup of tea in her hand.
Olivia walked out a few seconds after we appeared, took one look at Blaze and me, and sighed. “Oh, boy.”
I did not like the sound of that. Not one bit.
“Come in, come in.” Olivia held open the screen door as we shuffled in past her. “There’s tea on the coffee table there.”
Did she want us to serve ourselves? Eh, no matter. I waved my hand and moved the tea from the pot to the teacups. I didn’t pick my cup up. The last thing I needed right now was tea. Maybe a double shot of vodka would be better.
“I need answers,” I said flatly.
Olivia sighed. “I wasn’t a member of the coven when you were shunned, but I came very soon after. Everyone still talked, though. There was a group of witches talking about leaving. They all felt that Joan lied about her reasons for shunning you.”
“She did,” I said flatly.
Olivia inclined her head. “Of course. We know that now. And we were pretty sure we knew that then.”
“What did you hear?” I asked. “What did they say were the reasons she shunned me?”
“Well, she told the coven your magic was dark.” Olivia gave me a sympathetic look. “She said your magic would corrupt all of them and they’d all turn dark too. She was convincing at the time.”
That corroborated everything I’d heard. “Anything else?”
“The oracle had a vision of you years after you left. There was a man who was meant for you, and she said you’d grow into everything you’re meant to be once you found him.”
Blaze’s gaze weighed on the side of my face. No way in witching hell was I going to look at him.
Olivia leaned closer. “She feared you because before you left, the oracle’s visions said your future showed you’d be the high priestess. Joan wasn’t happy about losing her title. And she tried very hard to keep that vision from getting out, but out it got.”
“What happened?” Blaze asked.
“Joan used black magic to find the boy, but she didn’t want to get her hands dirty. She sent other dark witches to find him. The witch reported back that the boy was dead.”
I finally looked at Blaze. “Apparently not.”
He looked slightly panicked. My heart hurt for him, as much as I didn’t want it to. I slipped my hand over into Blaze’s. Pieces of the puzzle were fitting together. I squeezed his hand as Olivia continued.
“Joan thought she was safe. Until Livvie was born. Livvie’s parents were both descended of a long line of witches and their mixture was enough for Livvie’s magic to make her a full-blooded witch. Livvie being born set off a new course for fate. Or so we assumed.”
She sipped her tea and eyed me. “Everything happens for a reason. Even if we don’t agree with the whys.” She pointed to me as I arched an eyebrow back at her. “Your fate is still to lead the coven.”
What a joke. “How am I supposed to lead a slain coven?” I asked.
Olivia’s smile turned more sinister. “Things aren’t as they seem.”
Blinking, I stared at her until she continued.
“They’re out there, Samantha. They’re just waiting on you to take your place.” Her gaze shifted to Blaze. “With your mate by your side.”