Page 58 of November Reign
“No. The shifters know you’re mine by now.”
His pleased expression stayed with me after I put him in bed and left the room.
Most of the coven were still in the kitchen eating their lunch. They were in groups, chatting quietly. More than a few eyes watched me go to Damon.
“You were gone a while.”
“Took me that long to convince him to have a nap and take a potion in an hour.”
“Right. Good call. He burned a lot of magic when he wasn’t feeling too hot to start with. Think he might have to try a new bed. Was complaining of back pain.” Humor danced in Damon’s blue eyes, the same shade as Thyme’s, yet so different.
“Why don’t I try to teach them the potion Thyme was going to show them?” I offered.
“That’d be great, thanks Oak.”
Hopefully Basil would get off my case with the performance we put in today. Then we had to figure a way out of this mess.
Help Arrives
Thyme
Another day passed, pretendingOak didn’t mean the world to me. I hated the acting, but at least we were being more friendly now. To an outsider it appeared as if Damon was softening towards Oak after helping me the day I “fainted”.
Once the coven was gone each evening, we went over the mansion, checking it, before we tried to figure out a plan for ending this all.
“Why can’t I just shoot him?” Damon asked, petulantly.
“A former hitman with a gun? He’ll expect that,” Oak pointed out.
“I hate it when you’re right.” Damon relaxed back into Mori’s embrace, defeated.
“It might be a good idea to make sure we’re all armed with knives. We can spell them to get through barriers,” I suggested.
“We need to do the unexpected,” Parker mused.
The alarm for the portal sounded. We all sprung into action just in case and headed for the foyer, the only place to portal in and out of the house.
“Mori!” a female voice called.
“Mom!”
I caught a look at the attractive couple standing with Barr. Both of them had a resemblance to Mori, and also Cody. They greeted everyone with hugs. Even me and Oak, who they hadn’t met before.
“These are my parents, Amoredessa and Hanandes.” Mori made the introductions.
“Please, call us Dessi and Hana,” Mori’s father insisted.
“We come with news!” Dessi was beaming. She clapped her hands with glee. “Barr, come here, darling.” The Hellhound went to her side. She wrapped an arm familiarly around him. “It’s official. He’s our newest grandson!”
There was an explosion of noise while we all tried to congratulate Barr, Dessi, and Hana, while also being confused.
Damon took Barr’s hand and pulled him to him and Mori. “What Dessi is trying to say is we’ve officially adopted Barr. Does he have his royal mark?”
“I do!” Barr grinned and displayed a crown on one of his stubby black horns.
“This means he’s safe from a contract,” I said, thinking aloud. “Without the charm.” There was always a risk it could be found or nullified somehow.
“Yes. Part of why we wanted to adopt him,” Mori said, looking so proud. “Barr has made his way into our hearts, so this is one way we can protect him. We want him to be a member of our family because we feel a bond to him, don’t we Damon?”
