Page 6 of Magic Pussy

Rain bit her lip and Ace tilted her head.

“Do I need to kill someone?” she asked without much intonation to her voice. She might as well have been talking about picking up dry cleaning.

“No, nothing like that. It's just...” Damn, spell it out, Phillips. “A family issue,” she finally voiced.

That got Ace's attention. Her eyes widened a little. Come to think of it, it was probably the very first time that she'd mentioned family to her over the course of their acquaintance. No wondered she was surprised.

Ace hadn't asked. She respected her privacy; plus, she certainly had her own share of family drama, so she could understand why some people preferred to keep their history under wraps.

"Alright," said the alpha female, still frowning. "Coffee or tequila?"

Rain finally let a breath out. "Tequila. Make it a double."

"I got it, lass," said a low, delightfully suave voice from behind her.

Luke walked around her and headed to the open-plan kitchen on the other side of the room. She watched him walk away because what his beige pants did to his thick thighs and his ass was downright sinful.

Realizing that everyone's attention was on her, she regretfully redirected her gaze towards Ace and explained. "My family is based in Nola. There are quite a few witches in the city--hell, most towns in Louisiana have their dedicated witches, really--and once a year, at the summer solstice, they all get together for one huge event. The head of all the clans in the state presides over a ceremony meant to replenish the power of all witches present. My grandma used to cast the spell, and my older sister, Michelle, was the anchor who took in all the energy and then released it. Now that my grandmother is dead, Michelle has to cast it. If I don't go and let her use me as the anchor, she'll use my little sister. That's not an option. Anchoring the energy of thousands of dead witches is dangerous for anyone. Me? It might knock me out for a few days. But it could kill Sara. She's just twenty, and she only started to display some aptitude for magic three years ago."

“Would your sister truly use her if it’s that dangerous?" Rye asked, frowning.

"Yes," she replied without any hesitation. “Witches from my family make the best anchors because we have enough power to hold in all the energy that's passed down."

"Why just your family?" asked Luke.

She might have glared, if he hadn't also been walking, handing tequila to the adults and juice to the kids, like a fucking drink fairy. He was good enough to give her two glasses.

"We were the first witches of Nola. Our family traces back to Salem; during the hunt in the middle ages, there were two sisters of equal power. When their mother died, they decided that one of them should flee the city in order to preserve their line. The witches of Salem are elemental users. One stayed in Salem and built the largest coven in the world. The other one went to Nola. As a token, she took her mother's casket. When she settled in Nola, she found that her elemental magic wasn't what it used to be, but when she invoked the earth over her mother's grave, her mother's power flew through her instead. She was the first ancestral witch, Schuyler White. We're her direct descendants. Over the years, for one reason or another, other witches have been used as anchors; they even tried to have three, or seven anchors. It doesn't work nearly as well as using a White witch. I know Michelle. She won't care about the risk. This is her first ritual. She wants it to be a success."

There was a slim chance that she was wrong, that Michelle's threat had been a bluff, but she wasn't taking the risk.

“So, you're going,” Ace summarize. “How can I help?”

Her mate shook his head and corrected, “How can we help?”

Ace smiled at him in approval.

"I can handle the ritual itself. The problem..." This was embarrassing, but she forced herself to spell it out. "I will have a lot of power in my grasp, guys. Like, a lot of it. And there's something in me that may not want to let it go. Performing magic as part of the Nola covens, manipulating the power I was born with, is addictive. I got out when I could before it changed me, turning me into something I'm not. I just want to make sure someone can drag me the hell out of there if I feel tempted to stay. Nola is my past. I don't want it to be my future.”

Under the surface

Pain was obvious in Rain’s every word. Luke wondered what had happened in her life to make her sound so damn sad when she talked about her home. He wasn't that melancholic when he was remembering his and how everyone he knew had been butchered by a megalomaniacal madman.

Luke also wondered why he couldn't seem to loosen his fists or why he felt like punching something. And yet all of a sudden, one of his hands uncurled and reached out to her. Before he knew it, he was threading his fingers through her thick, luscious dark hair and pulling her close, giving her a half-hug.

He let her go just as quickly. What the hell? They were not on hugging terms. They said hi and exchanged a grand maximum of seven sentences per day, for heaven's sake!

Insanity.

She looked up, her big, dark, mesmerizing eyes full of surprise.

“Alright. We can do that. When's the ceremony? If you haven't reported back saying you're out a few days later, we come to drag you out,” Ace proposed.

Luke found himself frowning, not quite satisfied with that solution. He would have preferred if his alpha female had just told her not to go, that her sister was probably bluffing, or that they'd get the kid, Sara, out of Nola if necessary.

He opened his mouth to suggest just that when Clari intervened. “Or we could send someone with her?” she asked the alphas. “Sounds like that Michelle is a piece of work. It would be nice if someone had her back down there, especially if Rain needs to pass out after the ceremony.”

“Good point,” Ace agreed, smiling at the beta female. “Thank you.”

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