13. Aurora
Aurora
M y heart raced at Mac’s invitation as he gazed at me with an impossible warmth in his eyes that I wanted to shrink away from. His eyes should be cold—filled with death. Looking at them for too long should send a chill down my spine.
He was an impossibility, a vampire who felt—who cared. Nothing about him aligned with what the coven had taught me about their focus on evil and death. It drew me to him, but I needed to be free from him.
My dream returned to my mind, feeling Mac’s hand between my legs in complete rapture until his teeth sank into my neck. What did it mean? I couldn’t deny the looks he gave me nor the way my body responded to them. Logically, it made no sense.
“If it makes you feel better, I can help you rearrange a room so you can cast a circle in it, just like you have here, only much more comfortable.”
I shifted on the rock. “Where is this place?”
He pointed down the river. “About ten miles west of here, just before you get to town.”
In town, a train could take me to the airport and home. I just needed to get the lineage from him. I bit the inside of my cheek, weighing my options. It would be nice to have a hot shower and a comfortable bed for a few days. I looked at the ring on my finger, and warmth filled my body as though it was telling me to trust the vampire.
“Alright,” I said with a nod. “Just remember, if you try to harm me, I won’t hold back.”
“Understood. I’m sure you have more than one weapon with you.”
“As well as the magic at my disposal,” I said harshly, focusing on him. Pulling energy from my ring and pendant, I narrowed my eyes at him. His hand flew to his head as he doubled forward in pain. “Just a small taste.”
“Remind me not to piss you off,” he said, wheezing. “What was that?”
“My coven holds power over blood. That was yours boiling. It won’t kill you, but I’m told it sure hurts like hell.”
“Yes. Whoever told you that certainly wasn’t lying.” He rubbed his hand across his brow as he healed. “Shall we dismantle your camp and go?”
Satisfied now that he was aware harming me was not in the cards for him, I nodded. “Sure. Do you want to help me pack up?”
He glanced around the edge of the circle, uncertainty etching his face. “Are you going to let me in?”
I smiled. “Yes, you may come in.”
He pursed his lips. “Wait, this is…?”
I nodded. “Like a home, yes. I have to invite you in or let down the circle. Inviting you in was easier. But you’ll have to wait for me to get my bag to break the circle to leave.”
Mac’s eyes grew wide as he took a tentative step toward me. I couldn’t suppress my giggle. I never thought I would see the day I watched a powerful vampire hesitate to step forward.
“You know,” he said, with his eyes sparkling, “if you had ever been on the receiving end of having your ass kicked by a circle, you would hesitate too.” Instantly, he was beside me. “But you did nothing to drain a vampire’s powers once they are inside the circle.”
“I could make your blood boil again.” I smirked.
“Please don’t.” Mac gazed deeply into my eyes.
I took a step away from him. “Plus, are you able to leave?”
Mac cocked his head and walked toward the edge. “If I got in, surely, I can—” The magic propelled him to the circle’s center.
I laughed. “Impenetrable from both sides.” I hobbled to my backpack, picked it up, and slung it over my shoulder. As I did, I felt the surrounding magic absorb into the ground. “It makes a fantastic trap.”
Mac dusted himself off as he stood. “I see.”
“How do you plan to get me to this house of yours?” I leaned forward on the crutches and spread my arms, demonstrating my inability to travel far.
“I have a kayak waiting on the water. I brought it back last night when I went to get supplies for you. Now, what can I help with?”
“Could you get the hammock?” I asked. Mac strode to the bed and nimbly loosened the straps. I admired the ripple of his muscles before I caught myself and cleared my throat. “You thought of everything, didn’t you?”
He stopped working on the hammock and looked at me. “I want you to know I mean you no harm, and I am quite serious about working together to find the Cure. I have someone we can give the lineage to who can help us complete the family line.”
“How?” The dream nagged at the back of my mind. I needed to get away from him as soon as possible, but to do that, I needed to get the lineage. It had come from my coven, yet it was hidden from us all, including Aunt Amara. There had to be something more.
Mac brought the hammock to me, and I put it back in my bag. I glanced around. “I guess that’s it.”
“Allow me.” Mac picked up the backpack. “You focus on getting to the river.”
I raised my brow at his words.
“That way.” He pointed out an obscure path along the riverbank and stepped before me.
The fallen leaves from the past few years crunched under the points of the crutches as Mac picked through the trees with me close behind. We deviated from the path only once when rocks blocked our way.
“Why didn’t you bring it closer to camp?”
He didn’t stop walking or even glance back. “And have you think I was trying to abandon you?”
I nodded, accepting his point as a kayak came into view. Mac placed my pack in the rear so I could stretch my legs in the front.
He stood with his hand extended to me, one foot keeping the boat still. “Come. Let’s get you home.”
“Aurora,” my mother’s voice called. “It is not your home. It is the home of a vampire, the home of evil. Be careful, daughter.”
Twisting the ring on my finger, I hoped my mother would understand, yet I knew her warning carried a truth to it. Nevertheless, my heart sank at the thought of leaving him.
It took us almost an hour to make our way down the river. Underbrush and trees packed together on the banks throwing eerie shadows over the water. If we added some fog, it would be the perfect setting for a horror movie. It didn’t help that the pilot of our small craft was a bloodthirsty monster—literally. Time stretched as I took in every new tree and view around us. Finally, the endless pattern of green was broken by a small, rickety wooden dock jutting into the water. Mac navigated the kayak alongside it with ease before springing from his seat. Without a word, he helped me onto the wooden structure and retrieved my bag.
Using the crutches, I made my way through the once-formal gardens. Flowers and plants that appeared to have bloomed sometime over the past one hundred years now withered along the pathways. The cultivated shrubs remained, outlining the way but kept as simplistic as possible.
“This place must have been spectacular,” I said as we walked along the path, now mulched instead of being paved with stone. I gazed over it in awe.
“Yes, it was gorgeous,” said Mac. “I have quite fond memories of my family from here.”
“Really? Why so?” I couldn’t help but think I needed to know something about his family. Something he wasn’t telling me. And I needed to get him talking about it.
“We were happy here and adopted the youngest in our clan,” said Mac. “It was before the Civil War. My family needed a change of scenery, so we traveled through the Deep South, visiting the more organized cities—Savannah, Atlanta, and New Orleans. We met the factions and let them know we weren’t here for their territory. We even made our way to Charleston for a while. We hated the human’s political climate, but change was already coming.”
“Your entire family is vampires?”
“My brothers are like me, but not my parents.” He sighed, his gaze dropping before he looked back at me. “That is a story for another day. Let me show you upstairs to your room.”
Why? Why was everything a story for another day? When would he give me a straightforward answer?
Mac opened the back door to the house. We entered a modern kitchen, the white walls reflecting the sunlight. Off to the left was the dining room, and ahead of us was a foyer. I saw a set of stairs to my right and moved toward them.
Mac’s voice rang out. “Rory, over here. I don’t think you will find the servant’s stairs suitable. You wouldn’t fare well on those crutches.” He smiled, his eyes sparkling as he fought a chuckle at my expense.
Mac held my bag in front of him as I traversed a paneled hallway leading to a grand foyer. The light-blue walls of the room opened to the ornate plaster ceiling on the home’s roof, and a single crystal chandelier hung from the rose in the center. The stairs wrapped around the masterpiece before opening into catwalks overlooking the space where I stood. “This is gorgeous. It reminds me of home.”
“Maybe I’ll get to see that during our work together,” he said before changing the subject when he saw the slight scowl on my face. “The balls we used to have here were immense, and families came from miles around. Before the war, it was always something to do, and my mother was a fabulous hostess. She wanted everyone to feel at home. Now, we only bring people in to keep the home from crumbling. It’s a shame.”
I grasped both of my crutches with my right hand and clutched the railing of the stairs with my left so I could hop to the top of them.
“Do you want me to carry you?” asked Mac with indisputable seriousness.
The thought of laying in Mac’s arms again caused a tingling sensation between my legs—a feeling I needed to ignore. My words were soft. “No, thank you.”
He walked up the stairs beside me, guarding me should I stumble and fall. I could hear the smile in his voice although I trained my eyes on the top of the steps. “If you think this home is gorgeous, you should see our manor in Ireland. It’s one of those grand old houses you would expect of royalty.”
“Is that where you’re from, or did you just live there long enough to pick up the accent?” Maybe I could get an answer to something concrete about his family.
“I was born there. I haven’t been back for a while, though. Your room is down here.”
We walked toward the back of the house. As we reached the hallway, Mac pointed at the door on the right. “This is my room.” He opened the door on the left. “And this is yours. I hope it’s suitable.”
Light from the oversized windows flooded the sky-blue room. To my right, between the windows, stood a fireplace with a dark marble mantel. In front of it was a tea table with two comfortable-looking chairs. A chaise occupied the window nook to the left of the fireplace. A dresser and vanity stood on the wall in front of me, and the four-poster bed was to my left.
“The bathroom is through the door on the left. The windows by the fireplace overlook the river. I love that about these rooms.” His gaze grabbed mine, and he smiled before placing my bag on the bench at the end of the bed. He removed the lineage from the side flap. “I think I’ll take this downstairs if that’s okay with you?”
I gave him a sardonic smile. Did he forget that with my blood on it, I could find it whenever I wanted? “You’re going to take it whether it’s okay with me or not. So why do you say it that way?”
“You’re right, I am.” He took a step closer to me, the book in his hand between us. I could feel his body’s energy close to mine, his saltwater scent washing over me. He dropped his voice low. “But only so I know we’re working together.” He stepped back, the air rushing into the gulf between us. “I’ll leave you to get settled. I’m going outside.”
Mac closed the door behind him, leaving me in the room. I walked to the window beside the fireplace and pulled back the cream-colored lace curtain. Leaning against the marble, I stared at the river through the window. I needed to call Jade. And more than anything, I needed to figure out how to get out of here.
I grabbed a few supplies from my bag and lit a sprig of sage before limping around the room, muttering the incantations to cleanse and seal the space. It was a different spell from the woods, but then again, I was in a different place, with physical walls around me. I placed the still-burning herb on the vanity to stop my voice from traveling beyond the walls. Anxiously, I grabbed my phone from my bag and hobbled to the chaise. My fingers trembled as they hit the buttons to call Jade. I needed my best friend.
“Hello?” The word was quick and sharp as she answered.
“Hi,” I said, my voice small.
“Thank goodness it’s you,” she said with a breath. “Where have you been? Do you know how worried we are? Mom started getting these crazy, blood-splattered dreams. She even made Dad pack a bag.”
I raised my eyebrows. I should have known the coven would see something was off. Better not to mince words. “I’m sitting in a vampire’s house right now.”
“You’re what?” Jade screeched the question.
In my mind’s eye, I could see her eyes popping out of their sockets. I recounted the tale of my ill-fated trip into the caverns, complete with my fall, twisted ankle, and Mac saving me, but I left out the dream for now.
“Did you find anything?”
I sighed. “A lineage stolen from the coven.”
“A what?”
Movement out of the window caught my eye. I pulled back the sheer. Mac was crossing through the gardens, naked from the waist up. The sun reflected off his sculpted muscles, his impossible porcelain skin contrasting with the black athletic pants slung low, not doing much to conceal his equally sculpted ass. I caught my breath with a pang in my heart.
“Rory, are you alright?” Jade’s voice came through the phone. “He isn’t there, is he?”
“What?” I blinked a few times as my eyes followed him to the dock. He hooked his hands into his waistband, and I spun my head away, feeling a heat in my cheeks and a tingle in my core. I wished he was something beyond the uncaring evil I knew vampires to be.
“Did he come back?” The words tumbled from Jade’s mouth.
I glanced out the window, an emptiness filling my chest as I strained to make out the shape of Mac’s pants on the dock. “No. He went for a swim in the river.”
“So why don’t you get out of there? Like, for good?”
“Because...”
Jade sighed. “Aurora, that does not sound good.”
“Neither is you calling me Aurora.” My annoyance at her motherly tone must have been more pronounced than I intended as a silence enveloped us.
“Are you going to tell me what’s happening, or do I have to guess?” Jade asked after a few seconds.
I took a deep breath, knowing how it would sound—ridiculous. It sounded ridiculous. “Sometimes I’m so drawn to him. It’s like I’m supposed to be with him. And then I had this dream—”
“A dream?”
“Yes.”
“Like a prophetic dream?” Her voice warbled like it did every time she was nervous. It was one of Jade’s tells.
“That is what it felt like, but it happened in the past, not the future. It looked like we were in Ireland. One thing was certain, though. I was definitely with him.” I pressed my lips together.
“You mean with, with him?”
I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see. How often had Jade and I had conversations like this, and now she was questioning me as if we were virgins? “Yes, I dream-fucked him.”
“Are you sure this isn’t something that we should talk to Amara about?”
I couldn’t stop the sarcastic laugh. “That’s just what I want to do—call my aunt and tell her about my sex dreams.”
“It sounds a little weird when you put it that way. But what are you going to do about it? What does it mean?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s probably just that infatuation you get when you think you’ve fallen in love with your rescuer.”
“Rory, you can’t. He’s a vampire.”
“That makes love a little difficult.” I glanced out the window again, part of me hoping to catch him as he came out of the river. Sure, I wasn’t close enough to see anything, but I had to admit I was curious.
“If we can’t talk to Amara, what about my mother?”
I looked at my foot propped up on the chaise. “And what are we going to tell her? Rory wants to fuck a vampire, and we need to figure out how to kill him?”
“I didn’t suggest killing him,” she retorted.
“Isn’t that what normally happens to vampires? We find a hunter to kill them?”
“True.” I’m sure Jade rolled her eyes as she said it. “But we need to figure something out.”
“Fine.” The word came out with an exasperated sigh. Just after, I could hear Jade open the door of her room.
“Mom,” she called. The timbre of her voice changed, so I knew I was on speakerphone.
“Yes, dear?” Evangeline sounded aggravated.
“Rory and I need to talk to you.”
Concern replaced the aggravation as her voice drew closer to the phone. “She finally called? Is she okay? What’s going on?”
Jade giggled. “Rory’s falling in love with a vampire.”
“What?” Shock flooded Evangeline’s voice.
I drew in a sharp breath. “Jade! You didn’t have to put it that way.” I tried my best to control the damage caused by Jade’s comment.
“Put that thing on a video call,” her mother demanded.
I pulled the phone away from my ear and accepted the change in call type. My image shrank into the lower right-hand corner. I smiled meekly, afraid of saying the wrong thing. Evangeline narrowed her eyes. “Who is this vampire, and where did you meet him? How did this happen?”
I was about to answer when Jade turned to her mother. “She went to the caves like she was supposed to, then fell, but the ring protected her—except her ankle. The vampire came to save her, took her back to camp where she had a sex dream about him, and now she’s at his house. You’re all caught up.” Jade’s angelic smile coming through the video nearly made me laugh. She was not helping my case.
Evangeline rolled her eyes at the irreverence in Jade’s dissertation before looking at me through the phone. “Rory, is all of this true?”
Her concern strained my heart. “I think Jade pretty much summed it up. Except for the falling in love part. I’m not falling in love.”
Evangeline took a deep breath. “What do you think the dream was about? There is powerful magic in sex.”
I bit my cheek as I thought through the dream, the feeling of Mac’s fingers inside me. “I don’t know. It didn’t make sense because it seemed to be the past. Aren’t prophetic dreams always the future?”
Evangeline shook her head, running her hand over her face. “Not always. Where did the dream happen?”
“It looked like we were in Ireland, but given how I was dressed, it was hundreds of years ago. But in the dream, we were a couple.”
“You mean he hadn’t forced you or seduced you? The intercourse was willing?”
I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. Evangeline was my second closest thing to a mom, but the conversation was still weird. I nodded, struggling to find the words. “Dream-me didn’t even flinch—like it was completely normal.”
Evangeline nodded and pursed her lips. Her eyes darted around briefly as if she half expected to see something—or someone—lurking behind me. I shrank back into the chaise, unsure if I should be prepared for a scolding or motherly advice.
The seconds passing felt like hours before she finally sighed. “Rory, how do you know this isn’t the vampire we’re looking for?” Her voice was laced with concern.
I glanced at the table as the memories of Mac’s soft and tender hands, assisting me after my fall, washed over me. How could someone who cared so deeply be purely evil? I may not have fallen for him, but he had helped me. “We don’t. But if he is as awful as you’re implying, why didn’t he leave me in the cave? He could have just taken the lineage and left. But he didn’t. He wants to work with me.” My voice wavered, uncertainty creeping in despite my words of defense.
“Wait, he could take what?” Her eyebrows rose as a smile overtook the concern in Evangeline’s eyes. Her question was quick with excitement, and the realization that we had found something lightened the mood.
I nodded and sat up a little straighter. “A portfolio stolen from the coven around one hundred and fifty years ago.”
“You never told me exactly what it was.” Jade’s voice broke in after she had sat silently beside her mother.
The corners of my mouth turned upward. “A family line, which showed the seventh son of the seventh son starting from an Irish chieftain in the 1100s through the 1850s.” I could almost see the names scrawled across the faded parchment in my mind, the lines tracing back through centuries. “Mac said the person is known as the Cure and will know something about how to cure an ailment. He thinks a descendant from the last person listed still lives today. But you’ll never guess who the chieftain was.”
“Who?” Jade asked with a wide smile.
“Rauri O’Cillian. The Clan O’Cillian is real. All those stories—”
Jade’s eyes grew wide as Evangeline’s narrowed. “Where is this lineage now?” asked Evangeline, her voice quivering slightly.
My gaze dropped to my ankle, and I bit my lip as I tried to justify his actions, even to myself. “Mac took it once we got back to his house. He didn’t trust me with it. He wants to work together to find the descendants of the last man listed.”
Evangeline tilted her head, her voice stern. “Rory, no. There is a vampire out there whose power has grown beyond what the hunters can contain. How do you know this Mac doesn’t want to find the Cure simply to kill him? We don’t work with vampires. They are monsters bent on destroying us.” The authority in her voice made me cringe because it sounded like something my aunt would say.
I forced my voice to stay steady. “Evangeline, nothing that Mac has done lines up with what you are saying. I know this sounds weird, but… I trust him.” I tried to reflect my authority as the High Priestess Heir in my voice, but even I almost didn’t hear it.
Evangeline’s jaw tightened, the muscle twitching as she fought to hold back whatever harsh words hovered on the tip of her tongue. “The answer is no.”
Shit, she had pulled out the mom voice, regardless of how old I was. A flash of frustration surged through me, but I bit back a retort, knowing it would only make things worse. “What do you want me to do?”
She raised an eyebrow, her gaze uncompromising and unyielding. “You need to find that lineage and bring it home, just like Amara instructed.”
My heated blood rose in my chest. My heart hammered against its cage of bone, anger and a sense of betrayal flooding my veins. “Did you miss the part where my ankle is busted, and I can barely walk?” Although she couldn’t see it, I pointed at my leg, the throbbing pain shooting up to emphasize my point.
“Call a rideshare.” Her voice was dismissive before shaking her head and looking away. Her eyes narrowed when she looked back and spoke, and her lips pursed as if she suddenly realized something important. “Why is your ankle still busted?”
An icy trickle of unease crept up my spine. “What do you mean? I have the herbs on it, but it needs a day or two to heal.”
Evangeline cocked her head. “So much for your vampire ‘friend.’ All it takes is a few drops of vampire blood to heal you. Why hasn’t he offered it if he just wants to help?” Her words dripped with a skepticism customarily reserved for teenagers, yet I was about to enter my twenty-fourth year. Was Evangeline right that no matter how comfortable I was with him, Mac was capable of unspeakable things?
My pulse quickened as my thoughts returned to Evangeline’s suggestion, but I kept my voice calm and soft. “Aunt Amara has always said it is dangerous to have vampire blood.”
Evangeline’s voice was matter-of-fact, as though she were reading from a textbook on supernatural physiology. The cold logic of it made my skin crawl. “Vampire blood degrades as it heals. You must have enough to heal your body and sustain a transition. A few drops will heal but not allow you to turn. I’m sure a thousand-year-old vampire knows this, but you are easier to control if you aren’t healed.”
I shook my head. “If he wanted to control me, he wouldn’t have left me with all of my ingredients for spells.” My voice was firmer, the unease replaced by anger as I defended him.
Her gaze was piercing as she leaned forward. “You need to find that lineage and come home.” Even through the screen, the force of her will was palpable, leaving no room for arguments.
I tried anyway. “But—” I bit my lip, searching for the right words to convince her, but they all died on my tongue.
Jade shrank back at Evangeline’s side as her mother’s voice was firm. “No. You say he wants to work together but hasn’t told you why. Think about it, Rory. There has to be something he isn’t telling you. Vampires don’t just help.” Evangeline’s scoff was low, her disdain clear as she threw her hands in the air. Her voice softened just a fraction, as though she was genuinely worried despite her harsh tone. “Where is he now?”
I pointed absently, turning my head toward the window. My heart sped up as his silhouette broke through the dark waters. I struggled to control my expression. “He’s outside swimming,” I said.
Evangeline’s eyes grew wide. Her voice rose, disbelief etched on her face. “We’ve been on the phone while he’s outside? You could have been finding the lineage instead of having this conversation.”
I clenched my jaw. My answer matched the intensity of her question. “We don’t even know what to do when we find the Cure. Don’t we need Mac to help us figure it out?”
Her eyes narrowed as she leaned forward, her fingers tapping against the table she sat at. “It has the lynx crest on it, yes?”
I nodded at her question.
“Whoever stole it knew it was important because when they buried it, they protected it. You need to find it and come home. The ancestors will guide us. We don’t need a vampire.” Her voice was almost pleading now, a crack of desperation breaking through.
“But I—” The words caught in my throat as she cut me off with a look.
Evangeline’s eyebrows knitted together, and her lips became a thin line. Her voice softened, making my chest tighten with guilt. “We don’t know who or what he is, and the more you try to convince me, the more concerned I get.” She sucked in a sharp breath, her expression shifting from skepticism to something closer to fear. “You need to get the lineage and come home. It is time we finally stop these vampires for good.” Her voice was urgent, the intensity of her gaze locking on mine, making it clear there would be no more arguments.
I looked out at the dock. Mac’s pants were still lying there. My heart sank as I made my decision. I could feel my eyes narrow. “I thought our job was to maintain the balance. We’re the neutral party between the hunters and the vampires, never taking a side, simply connecting to the blood. Isn’t that how it goes?”
“Until the hunter’s arrow didn’t hurt one of them, and the Charleston coven showed up on our doorstep. To maintain balance, we must find and handle him ourselves. And whatever vampire stands in our way will feel our wrath.”
“Maybe we could use the help this once,” I muttered.
Evangeline sighed. Her body angled toward the phone, making it look like she wanted to reach through it and wrap her arms around me. “Even when completely neutral, we don’t work with vampires. It doesn’t matter if they desire the same outcome. Working with them is to side with evil.”
“We’ve teamed up with the hunters. Maybe it’s time to rebalance.”
Evangeline couldn’t mask the pain my statement caused.
“I’ll be home soon.” Blood boiling under my skin, I slammed my finger down on the red button. I knew we shouldn’t have involved Evangeline. Now, she would tell Aunt Amara, and I’d have to answer to her, too. The crutches clicked as I gathered my belongings and shoved them into my bag.
I wondered how long Mac usually swam before I hobbled back to the chaise, propping my knee on the soft cushion. His pants still lay in a small rumpled mess on the dock. The scent of the burning sage I had left on the vanity wafted over me. Mac would be able to re-enter the room when the sage burned out. I tried to forget that I was leaving without saying thank you or goodbye as I stopped myself from scribbling him a note.
I grabbed my backpack from the end of the bed and slung it on my back, trying to find balance on the crutches. Slowly, I hobbled down the hallway, pushing the anger out of my head. I could be angry later once I got out of here. Putting my crutches in one hand, I hopped down the long stairway, dropping my bag on the floor when I reached the bottom.
The foyer opened into a parlor, and I found myself captivated by the room’s elegance as I entered it. Wide wooden floorboards disappeared beneath a dark red and cream area rug. The high ceilings, intended to capture the oppressive Southern heat, lent an air of grandeur. A chandelier hung overhead, not yet needed, as the sunlight streamed through the windows, making shadows dance across the room.
I removed the pendulum from my neck and maneuvered the chain through the ring on my finger, which allowed me to hold on to my crutch as it hung freely. I concentrated on the lineage—how I connected to it, how it felt in my hands, and, most importantly, my blood on the pages. I brought to mind the joy that would fill me when it was in my hands again. The pendulum swung. I felt the crystal begin to pull and move, playing a strange game of hot or cold.
The pull of the pendulum led me through the parlor and into what looked like an office. Books lined the shelves, and an old globe sat in the corner, its surface worn from years of use. An oversized desk filled the middle of the room. The lineage lay in the open on the top. I tried to ignore that Mac hadn’t hidden it because I had implied we would find the Cure together.
The leather felt right as I picked it up, tucking it into my hand so I could return to my bag. Clenching my jaw, I ignored the tears threatening to come to my eyes. It didn’t matter how perfect I felt being next to Mac or that I promised to work together. As the future High Priestess, I had a duty to my coven.
I slid the lineage into the outer mesh pocket before I lifted my bag to my shoulders. I would make my way out to the road before finding a ride. Getting away from here was the most important thing. As I exited the front door, I studied the multistory portico that stretched the length of the front of the house. I could imagine the women in their ball gowns before the Civil War coming out for air in a beautiful ball. Stories I had imagined but would never hear from Mac haunted me.
I hopped down the steps to the circular drive, glancing at the manicured shrubs lining the blacktop. In the center of the drive, a fountain stood empty in the grass. Off to the left was the singular lane winding through the trees to the road. The once-grand home was so beautiful I was almost sad to leave. But I knew I had to go. I concentrated on not falling as I navigated the last steps away from the house. I hobbled toward the route through the trees, my arms feeling like they were moving faster than possible as I swung my uninjured leg in front of me. Looking over my shoulder one last time, I said a silent goodbye to Mac in my heart.
I set my sights ahead of me and gasped. There he stood between the towering trees, blocking my way, his pants slung low against his hips, water beading on his perfect sinewy chest.
He took a step forward. “I thought we were working together, but it appears you would rather do this alone.”
My mouth dropped open, my words betraying me. One thing was sure: I wouldn’t be able to leave. And I couldn’t admit it, but my heart soared.