Chapter 15 #2
“Oh wait, no, I remember that. I guess I forgot it was there because we never expected to get mated, either.” I smile over at Morgan and wink, trying to keep the tension out of the cab.
Then another thought hits me. “Wait a minute. Wasn’t there wording somewhere in that document that if Alex gave up his fated mate to us, that he’d lose control of the family company? ”
Morgan gasps, turning in her seat. “What?”
Troy is quick to reassure her in case she thought that’s the real reason we chose to mate her. This is becoming a theme. “Morgan, that has nothing to do with us, you know that, right? None of us were thinking about that when we decided we had to have you.”
She waves him off like he’s being ridiculous. Good. “No, I know. I wasn’t thinking about that. It just... it brings me a lot of joy to think of fucking him over.”
There’s a moment of silence and then everyone starts laughing at the same time while I park, and I can’t help but sweep her into a hug as soon as I’m around the front of the car. “You’re so damn perfect. Love how bloodthirsty you are.”
She sighs as she melts against my chest, taking a look around the town.
“Wow. This place is adorable. I can see why they try to keep people out; they’d have commercial shit in here in a heartbeat if corporations thought they could make money here.
Oh my gods, are those gas lamps on the sidewalk? I love that.”
There are a few people walking around the sidewalks, definitely curious about Morgan. We knew we’d have to field some questions, but that’s okay. We want Morgan to be a permanent resident here and feel comfortable coming down here alone if she feels like looking around.
We’re only a few steps away from the truck when the door to the spell shop opens, the owner running out to us, waving her arms. “Thank goodness! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you three—oh, hello.
How do you do? What is your name and are you with them willingly?
Because I have some spells that could fuck—”
Morgan cuts the eccentric woman off, laughing as she winds an arm around mine. “Very willingly, thank you. Appreciate the offer, though.”
The owner, Lenore, waves Morgan off. “Offer stands if they do something stupid. Anyway, welcome to town! We hardly ever get a new resident, be ready for the gossip!”
“You said you’ve been trying to get a hold of us?” I interject, trying to get everyone back on track.
Lenore freezes and starts twisting her hands together, looking back over her shoulder at her shop.
“Get a new rock? That thing is massive. How the hell did you get it into town?” I step closer to it, admiring the black and gold veining in it. It’d make a hell of a something if you carved it right.
“That’s…that’s what I needed to talk to you about,” Lenore says anxiously. “You see, your brother, he, well…”
The three of us instantly give her all of our focus, ready to throw more than fists if Alex did something to this lovely lady. Terrifying, but lovely.
“He came to see me after he was, er, treated by healer Elvira, and he didn’t heed the warning on the door of my shop…”
My eyes nearly bug out of my head as I get whiplash from looking back and forth from the rock to the spell shop over and over again, not sure if I’m hoping if she’s saying what I think she’s saying, or if I’m horrified by the thought.
Then I have a vision memory of Alex throwing it in Morgan’s face that he was actually fucking a woman he claimed was his sister, which, ew, amirite? And the state Morgan was in when we found her because she was so messed up by his soft rejection, and it’s the former.
“Are you—I’m sorry, did you turn our brother into a godsdamned rock?” Wiley asks, about as shocked as I am.
Morgan’s hand flies to her mouth and she inhales so loud and quick she starts coughing. Then she’s stumbling over to the rock, falling to her knees as she runs her hands over the rough edge of it.
There are tears gathering in her eyes, and I’m kicking myself for making the mistake of bringing her to town before verifying that Alex was fully out of the picture. Probably would have helped if we bothered plugging in the phone. It was just so damn nice pretending he didn’t exist for a few days.
Troy joins Morgan on the ground, not quite sure where to put his hands.
“I’m so sorry, you guys. Honestly, I tried to warn him, I swear I did! After reading your palms in the shop a few days ago, I knew he was wormy, but, like I kind of thought he had some sort of self-preservation instinct? Nah. Not a single shred.”
All of a sudden, the tears that I thought Morgan was weeping in pain turn into laughter so severe that her face starts turning red and her voice completely cuts out.
“I fucking love it here!” She screams as she flops to her back and starts brutally kicking the rock.
“Oh my gods, this is the single greatest day of my life. Please tell me you have surveillance footage? I would do so many dirty things to watch that,” Morgan says as she begins pleading with Lenore, who seems very confused about how to address us now.
“Um, well actually, I don’t usually…” Lenore takes in the desperation in Morgan’s eyes, and I know she’s got her. “You know what? Fuck him. Yeah, you bet your ass I have footage. Come on in, I’ll make some caramel corn.”
Lenore grabs Morgan’s arm and tugs her into her shop, where there’s a large, hard-to-miss sign posted informing anyone that wishes to enter that the premises is monitored by spell malware, and that if they enter with the intent to harm anyone this town claims, then they will be transformed into their societal worth.
Apparently, the town thought Alex wasn’t good for anything other than being a large rock that’s going to be a bit of an eye sore and in everyone’s way.
Oh my gods. How terrible would it be to hire heavy machinery to move the rock somewhere onto our property so we could take turns fucking Morgan on it? Can you fucking imagine?
“Are you boys coming? You’re welcome to not,” Lenore calls as the ladies disappear into the back room of her shop.
My brothers look at me, and I look at them, wondering what we’re doing by introducing Morgan to other women as devious her.
She totally belongs here.
“Yep, coming,” I wheeze out as I try to whisper my plans to my brothers. They’re obviously immediately on board.
The back of Lenore’s shop doesn’t even look like the same space as the rest of it; instead of the moody vibe out front, as soon as you cross through those beaded curtains, we’re hit with the bright scent of lemons and a breakroom decked out in so many shades of beige it’s almost offensive.
“Make yourselves comfortable dears, I’m going to put a sign on the front door, so we’re not bothered while we’re snacking.”
I pull Morgan onto my lap while my brothers surround us, making sure to leave room for Lenore to sit as well.
None of us quite know what to say, it feels like we’re free falling through the sky.
Well, I guess Morgan knows what to say. “Is it messed up that I really want to go buy a can of spray paint so I can cover that entire rock in dicks?”
The tension breaks and we all groan and do some variation of rubbing our foreheads to ease the stress.
“When you fell to your knees outside, I thought you were genuinely upset, Morgan. You scared me,” Troy admits as he wipes amusement from his eyes. “I should probably feel bad for Alex, right?”
“No,” we all reply at the same time.
“Yeah, no, fuck that guy. But seriously Morgan, this is kind of a lot. You were kind of with him not too long ago. You thought you’d spend your life with him for at least a few days. What are you feeling right now?” Troy asks her, trying to help her in any way he can.
Morgan takes a deep breath as Lenore walks back in, responding with a gentle smile on her face.
“I think all of us have wasted enough time thinking about Alex. He only messed me up for a tiny part of my life; you guys have been fucked over by him for years. I know you said your father had a part in that as well, and maybe Alex could have been redeemed eventually, but if he weren’t an actual hunk of stone outside, I’d probably be bartering with Lenore for spells to give him incurable crabs or something. ”
“That can still be arranged,” Lenore tells us as she pulls some popcorn from the microwave and drizzles some caramel over it.
Morgan waves her off. “I like him as a stone. We’re good. So, what happened? Do we need any back story before we watch the footage?”
Lenore settles onto the single chair next to the loveseat, grabbing a handful of the sticky treat before handing the bowl to Morgan.
“There’s no audio on the recording, so maybe.
I was getting ready to close for the day when he came marching through the door.
I could tell he was confused, which is to be expected after the strength of the memory spell I sold to your mates.
“I knew immediately that he meant to do something mean, because he just had that aura about him.
He deduced that your mates did something to his memory since he had no idea why he was in Trash Haven.
He connected those dots real quick. I held up my hand and warned him about the protections on the shop, but he was too bullheaded to listen.
“The shop pushed him back out the front door, which was his warning, and I rushed out just as he reached for the door again. He lifted a hand to grab the nearest items he could reach, and I thought he intended to throw them so as to get my attention, but he was kicked out so quickly by the shop that he tumbled head over arse a few times and began to spasm before he became that hunk of stone out there. It’s quite stunning though.
I bet it would make somebody a lovely countertop. ”
Morgan starts cackling. “That’s even better than drawing dicks all over it. So, is he stuck like that forever?”
Lenore sighs. “Unfortunately not. The spell isn’t permanent.”
“Please tell me we get to enjoy him not existing for a while before it reverses,” Wiley begs.
“It will hold as long as he remains so stubborn. If Alex changes his heart and becomes sympathetic enough to understand his faults and he develops a true desire to be better and right his wrongs, he will be transformed back.”
“So basically, it’s permanent,” Wiley says as he grabs a handful of popcorn.
Lenore uses the remote to do a salute in agreement before queueing up the footage and hitting play, and we get to see exactly what Lenore described.
Alex’s stupid face is wrinkled with anger from the moment he first crosses Lenore’s threshold, and I’m glad she has the ability to protect herself and her property in such a way.
I knew she was powerful, but I’ve only ever accrued small spells from her, so I didn’t know exactly what she was capable of.
Gives me high hopes for our property border spell.