Chapter 23
The next day, the meeting with Theo went even better than Gavin expected, and he was able to leave Marigold with the old man in the corporate library while he went down to his office.
He was making good progress on the items left on his desk when a call came in from Robert Rollins.
Surprised by the other man reaching out so openly, Gavin took the call immediately.
“Robert, how are you doing?” Gavin greeted the man with guarded friendliness.
“Very well, thank you. I just wanted to pass along something we heard from one of the cousins who had been hosting a certain witch I believe you have an interest in.”
Gavin set up straighter in his office chair. If Robert was talking about Mrs. Entwistle, he definitely had Gavin’s full attention.
“Mrs. E?” Gavin asked cautiously.
“That’s the one,” Robert agreed. “I know she disappeared the day of the ruckus, but my cousin still had some of her things at his house. I only found out today that she had come back to claim her possessions and intimated to my cousin that if anyone in the family was looking for her, they would most likely find her in the Northeast, near her old stomping grounds. Apparently, the old woman knows how to hold a grudge, and she’s got it in for some of her old friends and is planning retaliation. ”
Gavin noted the careful phrasing Robert was using.
Although he hadn’t said anything in clear language, Gavin knew what he was talking about.
Mrs. E was likely plotting her revenge on the Marsh Witches back on Long Island.
If that was the case, Gavin knew he had to warn them.
Mrs. E and her Venifucus allies had almost succeeded in destroying that ancient group of good witches and stealing their power not too long ago.
Mrs. E had lived among them, secretly plotting their demise for years before revealing her duplicitous nature.
She knew just about everything there was to know about the Marsh Witches of Sagaponack, one of the most powerful covens in the country, if not the world.
“Thank you for passing that along. I’ll be sure to mention it to a few friends of mine who live up that way,” Gavin told the other man.
“Glad I could help,” Robert replied. “Think of it as another link in the chain that might, if proven strong enough, join our two causes together.”
Gavin liked that idea and said so, ending the conversation on a friendly note.
He wasted no time calling his cousin, who had a good working knowledge of Long Island and the Marsh Witches.
Liam Kinkaid had been in on the operation to protect the coven and defeat the Venifucus forces that came against them, and he’d be very interested in finding Mrs. E if she had, indeed, gone back to the island.
“Hey, Gavin. I understand congratulations are in order,” Liam said, answering on the second ring. They spent a minute talking about Gavin finding his mate, but eventually, they got down to business.
“The reason for my call is that I have somewhat credible intel that Mrs. E is either heading back toward Long Island or she’s already there.”
“You said somewhat credible. Why the doubt?” Liam asked.
“The alliance with the person who gave me the information is still kind of new, and we’re both taking it cautiously. The group he represents used to be on the wrong side, if you get my meaning,” Gavin explained.
“Let me guess. The Rollins dynasty?” Liam hit the nail on the head without much effort.
“Yes and no. The leadership has changed, and the dynasty itself is on shaky ground until they get themselves more firmly established.”
“You trust them?” Liam persisted.
“You know, I think I do. The two who’ve taken over have proved to be kindhearted in the past, and they’re saying all the right things about their future goals.
They’ve also been hiding their own strength within their family so as not to draw too much attention to themselves.
My mate had personal experience with them, and she’s a pretty good judge of character, if I do say so myself. ”
Liam chuckled at that. “Yet, you’re still cautious about believing them. And who are they, by the way? It’s not just one person?”
“It’s a set of twins, believe it or not.
A male and a female. Our consultant from Granny Tucker’s school claims there’s something special about their twin bond or something.
I haven’t gotten the full story yet, if I ever will.
Though, I’m sure she’ll tell Sam. You know nobody can resist telling the Alpha anything he wants to know. ”
“Don’t I know it,” Liam replied in an amused tone.
They talked a bit more about how Sam was dealing with having a well-trained witch on hand.
There was something special about Claudia, and everybody noticed the way she interacted with Sam, especially.
It was like nothing Gavin had ever seen before.
She seemed to drive Sam a little crazy, but she also brought out his protective instincts, which were greater than any other lions in the entire Clan, of course.
That’s what made him the Alpha. He protected everybody under his care. Or at least he tried to.
The thing about Claudia was that she didn’t really seem to give Sam a chance to strut his stuff, so to speak. She was a very capable woman who didn’t really need anyone’s protection. Or even want it, from all accounts.
Quite a few of the ladies in the Clan had been gossiping about the way Sam chased his own tail when it came to Claudia. Speculation was rife that maybe the big bad Alpha had finally met his match, but so far, nobody had confirmed or denied.
By the time Gavin got off the phone with Liam and returned to work, he noticed it was almost lunchtime.
He had plans to pick up his lady at the library and take her down to the cafeteria, which was a lot nicer than the name implied, and treat her to a cozy lunch.
His inner lion really liked the idea of having her work in the same building.
When they weren’t working, they could be together on breaks or lunch, and they could go to and from work together in the morning and at night. The set up was really ideal.
As they were leaving the office together the next day, Marigold felt lighter than she had in a very long time.
For once, her life was going in the right direction.
She had a job she enjoyed and was living with a man she loved more than anything.
They went to work together, then went their separate ways to do their work, then met up again from time to time throughout the day, and finally, went home together to make love long into the night.
It was amazing. Gavin was amazing. For now, all was finally right with her world.
She should probably have known something was bound to go wrong, but she was foolishly optimistic as they went down to the secure parking garage under the Kinkaid Industries office building downtown.
The underground garage smelled faintly of oil and concrete, its fluorescent lights buzzing overhead as Marigold and Gavin made their way toward his SUV.
Then, the air shifted.
A ripple of wrongness brushed across her senses, subtle at first, then sharp and biting. Marigold froze, her hand tightening on Gavin’s arm. She barely had time to draw breath before her young cousin, Blossom Rollins, stepped from behind a parked sedan, her eyes alight with fury.
“There you are,” Blossom spat, her voice dripping venom. “The bitch who ruined everything.”
Marigold’s stomach dropped. “Blossom—”
“Don’t you ‘Blossom’ me!” The girl’s face twisted with rage, and raw power sparked at her fingertips.
“My parents were loyal to the family. They were strong. They belonged to the dynasty, to our legacy! And now—” Her voice broke into a snarl.
“Now they’re weak and soft in the head! All because of you. ”
Marigold’s breath caught, the accusation hitting harder than she wanted to admit.
Blossom was Sebastian and Letitia’s daughter.
They’d survived the fight at the Rollins mansion, but they’d been changed by exposure to the Light.
Marigold wanted to talk with Blossom about it, but there was no time.
Blossom’s hands flared with crackling energy, and she hurled a powerful magical blast straight at her.
“Down!” Gavin roared, shoving Marigold aside as he shifted mid-leap. In a heartbeat, the man she loved was gone, replaced by a massive golden lion, his roar reverberating through the garage as his clothing shredded around his new form.
He sprang to intercept, but the blast struck him square in the chest. The explosion of power hurled him backward into the side of a huge Escalade.
Metal groaned and crumpled with the impact, the whole vehicle rocking on its shocks.
Gavin slid down, dazed, his body twitching in the aftermath of the hit.
“Gavin!” Marigold screamed, scrambling to her feet.
Her heart hammered as Blossom turned toward her, eyes glittering with dark emotion. “I hate you, Marigold!”
Another surge of magic gathered in Blossom’s hands, brighter, hotter, and much more deadly.
Marigold’s pulse thundered. Gavin was down, and the parking garage echoed with the promise of death.
For one breathless instant, fear threatened to root her in place.
But then she saw Gavin’s eyes blink where he lay against the ruined SUV, and something inside her snapped into place.
Not again. Not ever again. Nobody hurt Gavin without consequences. Nobody threatened her and attacked her. She wasn’t powerless anymore. She didn’t have to take it like the prisoner she’d been. She could fight back now.
Marigold drew herself up, pulling on the well of power inside her that had once terrified her but now burned steady and strong. The air thickened, humming with energy, as she lifted her hands to meet Blossom’s next strike.
Blossom’s magic seared across the concrete floor, a jagged bolt of darkness that hissed and crackled as it came closer. Marigold didn’t flinch. She lifted her hands, palms glowing with steady white-gold fire, and met it head-on.
The blast struck her shield in a flare of light.
For a moment, the garage echoed with the clash—darkness pressing against brilliance, the very air vibrating with the strain.
But Marigold held her ground. She did her best to remain calm and centered.
Every lesson Claudia had drilled into her ran through her bones now, not fragile theory but living practice.
Blossom’s face twisted, her voice rising in a furious scream. “You think you can purify me? You’ll burn yourself out trying!”
“No,” Marigold said softly, her voice carrying with a power that wasn’t entirely her own. “I’ll set you free.”
She pushed forward, not with rage, not with force, but with Light. The brilliance poured from her hands, enveloping the rolling tide of Blossom’s magic. Darkness shrieked and withered, collapsing under the weight of something pure and immovable.
Blossom staggered back, her scream breaking into a sob as the cleansing swept through her. Power flared around her body, shadows lifting and peeling away like smoke torn loose by the wind.
Marigold felt it the moment the girl’s soul cracked open and the rot spilled out.
She pressed harder, filling every hollow corner with Light, until Blossom collapsed to her knees, trembling.
Tears streamed down the younger woman’s face.
Her hands, once curled with hatred, now shook as she pressed them to the cold concrete.
“I didn’t understand,” Blossom whispered, the sound raw. “I thought they were weak. I thought they’d betrayed everything. But now I see.”
Marigold’s arms trembled with the effort of holding the channel, but she let the Light recede slowly, until nothing but a soft glow remained. Blossom lifted her tear-streaked face, eyes wide with regret.
“I’m sorry. Forgive me. Please. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know how lost we all were.”
Boots pounded against the floor. The security team burst into the garage, weapons drawn, eyes widening at the sight before them.
Marigold swayed where she stood, the last dregs of power settling back into her bones.
She barely had time to catch her breath before Gavin limped to her, his gaze fierce as he planted himself squarely between her and the sobbing figure on the floor.
He’d shifted shape back to his human form.
His beautiful naked body was bloody but not as badly injured as Marigold had thought.
Then again, maybe the magic of his shift had healed the worst of his wounds.
She’d heard that shifters could do that.
Her thoughts raced as his broad shoulders blocked Blossom from view as the guards rushed in.
“Take her,” Gavin growled, his lion still in his voice.
Blossom didn’t resist. She curled inward, weeping. What was left of her magic guttered out like the last dying flame of a candle. The guards moved in cautiously, binding her hands, guiding her to her feet.
Marigold pressed a hand to Gavin’s arm, grounding herself in his strength.
He was battered, his skin scorched where the blast had hit, but he was alive, and they were safe.
Safe because he had come between her and the threat long enough so that, this time, she hadn’t cowered. She had stood, and she had cleansed.
Marigold whispered a silent prayer that the girl, like her parents, would find a way to build a life in the Light. The garage was still humming with echoes of power even as the security team led Blossom away. Marigold’s knees felt like water, but her gaze stayed locked on Gavin.
Her lion. Her love.
The worst of the evil blast had been taken with him when he shifted to his lion form, the magic scarring his beast more than his human flesh, but dark bruises were already blooming across his ribs and shoulders.
Marigold’s breath caught, her chest tightening at the sight.
She put her arm gingerly around him, hands fluttering a little before she dared to touch him.
“Are you all right? That hit was bad. You flew halfway across the garage.”
“I’ve had worse,” he rumbled, voice still rough, but the corner of his mouth tugged upward in a crooked smile.