Page 48 of Bewitchingly Hers
Damien cleared his throat. “Zain and I were actually talking about that last night. Becausewealways knew there were small communities of witches—it was why I came here, after all.” He looked over at Willow, running his fingers through her brown hair. “If I hadn’t been looking for Luna, I never would have found my mate.” Everyone let out a softawwas he pulled her tight, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
It was the craziest story—and yet, so romantic how they’d found each other in a bizarre twist of fate. It reminded me a little of how Barrett had come into my life, actually—Damien had been stuck in cat form, cursed by a witch from outside Pleasant Grove—and Willow had adopted him from the cat shelter. She’d certainly had the surprise of her life when he’d revealed he was actually ademon,asked her to help break his curse.
Much like I’d been shocked to wake up in bed next to the redheaded man who was stuck to my side.
Not that I was complaining. I liked the companionship. I liked coming home to him in my house. He spent his days searching for clues—both in wolf form, and around town as a human—while I worked at the coffee shop, keeping everything running smoothly. And since I’d noticed he seemed more at ease when I wasn’t working the front counter, I tended to spend most of my time in my office these days, working on my administrative work. Payroll, ordering and schedules took up most of my time, anyway. And it was what I enjoyed, what I really felt like I was good at. Sure, I didn’t mind being in the front as a barista, but I’d forever be grateful for the Clarke sisters for the promotion to manager.
The last two nights, I’d come home to him cooking us dinner, and my heart had almost burst at how easy this felt. How… domestic.
I liked it too much. And that was a problem.
Barrett squeezed my shoulder, and I looked back at him, into those eyes that I’d stared at for all those days when I’d been nursing him back to health in wolf form, and my racing pulse calmed instantly.
Like he knew just what I needed.
It felt like there was some unspoken connection between us that I couldn’t describe.
The girls at the other end of the table were sorting through the ancient boxes that Rina and Wendy had pulled out of their attics at the behest of their grandparents, who didn’t know our true purpose in our investigation. If they had, I was pretty sure they wouldn’t have been helping us.
Instead, they thought we were working on a project for preserving the town’s history.
For now, it was better to keep it that way.
“This seems like a pretty standard spell,” Cait was saying to Wendy, flipping through the old grimoire. She was our resident expert on spells and hexes, along with being Willow and Luna’s cousin. “It’s close to what the elders perform each month on the full moon to revive the magic. But there’s something… missing.” She frowned, running her fingers along the page. “Something different. I don’t know how to describe it, other than that it feelsold.”
“There is?” I perked up, tugging at the hem of my dark green dress as I walked over to her.
She nodded, pointing at the margins. “It looks like something’s written here, but it’s been hidden with magic.”
I leaned in closer, almost able to make out an iridescent shimmer of writing. That wasn’t uncommon with old spell books—hiding family secrets inside, covering up dark magic that shouldn’t be used anymore. But with this, it felt strange.
Wendy frowned, adjusting her headband. “Why would someone do that?”
“To cover up whatever they did,” Rina said, bending over to look at the book. “Obviously.”
“What do you think we need to reveal it?” Willow asked.
“Please, please, please tell me we don’t need blood.” Wendy’s skin paled. She’d never liked the sight of it, which I knew troubled her particularly when she hadrecently departedspirits appear in front of her. Definitely not fun.
Cait furrowed her brow. “No. But I’ve read in old times, they used ink that would dry clear and only appear when exposed to fire, and I think that… Maybe…” She grabbed a candle from the center of the table, the wick flickering to life, and she ran it across the surface of the page, careful not to spill wax or burn the thick paper and it’s magical text.
All of our grimoires were infused with magic, and while they were resistant to all the elements, you could never be too careful.
Shimmering gold text appeared on the page—notes from witches of the past, hidden for centuries.
“Wow.” A shiver ran down my spine. “This is…”Oldmagic. It was incredible.
“Anyone else have goosebumps?” Rina held out her arm. “I feel like we’ve uncovered something that we were never meant to know.” We probably weren’t. I could just imagine our elders rolling in their graves as we uncovered the secrets they tried to hide.
Everyone quieted as Cait studied the words in the margins, and then flipped to the next page and repeated the process again.
Finally, Wendy asked, “Well?” We were all dying with anticipation.
“I’d have to see if Agatha left any notes behind,” Cait said. “Then I can truly figure out thewhy.But I might have an idea of thehow.And if I’m right, on the eve of the next full moon, we should be able to break it.”
“But we don’t want todestroythe wards, right?” I frowned, looking back at Barrett. “We just need to fix them.”
Cait shook her head, twirling a long strand of bright orange hair between her fingers. “No. Whatever’s been done—especially if your wolf is right, and it’s been tampered with—needs to be undone.” I blushed at the implication that he wasmywolf, but I couldn’t deny how much I liked it, too. “But maybe it’s time to stop hiding from the rest of the paranormal world. The thirteenof us here are the strongest witches in Pleasant Grove. We can create a new barrier. A better one.” She looked up at Barrett. “If he’s right, then there might be beings out there that are our soulmates, our other halves. We owe it to all of us to find out.”
