9781618851307WitchsBrewShayNC (51 page)

“Damn it, Banjo! You scared a century off my life!” Kali’s
white rat
Futhar
was never far from her side. “What are you doing here,
Banjo? Aren’t you supposed to be with Kali at her school?”

Banjo
tried to speak, but all that escaped his mouth was a hiccup of tiny bubbles.
Talon frowned. “You’ve been in Kali’s bathwater again.”

Banjo
nodded. “Not by choice, I can assure you. I fell in just before I popped here
to the palace.”

“Where’s
my sister?”

“I
know not, Prince.”

“You
don’t know where Kali is?”

“No,
Prince. The Captain of the Guards swept into the school a few days ago and
snatched the princess away before I knew what was happening. I don’t think he
actually meant to kidnap her, but still, it was quite a sight with the princess
nak—”

“Naked? Kali was naked when Captain Koran T took her?”
Talon’s brows rose. “Why the hell did he take my sister?”

Clearing
his throat, Banjo twitched his whiskers. “Well, I don’t know, Sire. He didn’t
say. I’m certain she’ll be fine, Prince. Just fine. And he did wrap a sheet
around her, right after he lifted her from her bath and tied her wrists
together. You never heard such screaming, Sire.”

“It’s Beltane, Banjo, and my sister’s alone with a horny
waken
.
She can’t possibly be safe or fine. Why did he tie her wrists?”

Banjo hid a grin. “Yes, it is. She is. He is. And you’re
right, Prince. The princess attacked the captain, Sire, with her nails. You
know how long her fingernails are, but I’m betting come All Hallows’ Eve—”

“No.”
Talon held up a hand. “I don’t have time for this. As long as my sister’s alive
and well, I have other things to attend to. Stry’s missing, and I can’t find my
parents.”

Banjo
clicked his pointy teeth together. “Well, Sire, let’s see if we can find out
what’s going on here.”

Talon
turned to leave Kali’s chambers. “I received a message from Topaz. Have you
seen him?”

“
Squee,
”
Banjo squeaked, his whiskers trembling. “The
cat?
Oh, dear. Well, I
certainly wouldn’t be looking for a cat. Not me. No. No. Not me.” He coughed up
a string of bubbles. “Rats and cats, they don’t mix, Sire.” Banjo poked a tiny
claw, popping the bubbles. “No, they surely do not mix. And Topaz is a very
avid hunter. A light-foot, too.”

“Light-foot?”

“Females, you know? He can’t leave them alone. Mark my
words, he’ll spread his seed everywhere this Beltane. Why, I bet there’s
hundreds of kits he’s fathered over the years. Of course, he always swears his
innocence. He boffs every female he meets. Mark my words. He’s a whore cat.”

Talon choked. “That’s true, he is, but the females seem to
love him.” Talon slid the rat upon his shoulder. “Relax, old boy. Topaz has
chosen a bond mate. He’ll not be fathering any stray kits, except the ones he
gives Celine.”

“Humph!
He’ll have others this season. A whore cat, Sire.”

“Come
on.” Talon laughed. “We both know that’s not true. If he’d ever fathered a kit
he’d be automatically bonded to the mother. I have to find the big fellow. He
summoned me.”

“You
do have a pocket I can hide in, right?”

Talon
found he could still smile despite the fear crushing his soul. “I have a
pocket. I don’t know if it’s big enough for you to burrow into and hide. You’re
getting fat, Banjo.”

Banjo
hiccupped and watched three fat bubbles float up toward the ceiling, then a
look of chagrin crossed his pointy rat face. “I’m a whore rat, Sire. Gonna have
babies in a few days. Ten of them.”

“Good
grief,” Talon said, astounded. “Babies? How did that happen?”

“Well,
sire—”

“Never
mind, Banjo, I know how it happened.”

“Yes, Sire. You do understand that male
Futhars
of
my particular species carry the
Mits
, give birth, and then turn them
over to our mates to raise?”

Talon shook his head. “This has to be the most fertile
Beltane in years and the season hasn’t even reached its zenith yet.”

“Whatever size your pocket, Sire,” Banjo said, grinning,
“it’ll have to do. Topaz will eat me if he gets a chance.”

Talon
snorted. “You know better than that, Banjo. Simply turn yourself into a vicious
dog. That will solve the problem.”

Banjo snickered. “True. Then I could chase the cat instead
of the cat chasing the rat. Hmmm. I’ll give it consideration, Prince. That, I
will.”

* * * *

Topaz
stood in the darkness of the queen’s outer chambers, his big body shaking.
“Talon, hurry up!”

Talon
opened the door to his mother’s chambers at that precise instant. Banjo
squeaked and made good his threat to search for a pocket. He toppled inside
Talon’s shirt pocket, peeping over the top at Topaz. “Nasty cat,” he hissed,
revealing a row of sharp, pointy teeth. “I hate cats!”

Topaz
was too upset to pay much notice to Banjo.
“Pfft
. Hush, rat!”

Talon
drew in a shaky breath at the look he read on the
Futhar’s
face.
“Where’s Mother?”

Topaz
swallowed hard.

“Topaz?
Where is she?”

“Your Highness, please.” Topaz’s voice quivered. “I
probably shouldn’t have summoned you, but—”

“Where
is she?” Talon asked quietly, stepping around the tom.

“The bedchamber, Sire.” Topaz stepped to one side, bowing
his head. “I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

Talon placed Banjo on a lamp out of Topaz’ reach, then he
swung around, inclined his head in a brief nod of understanding to Topaz and
pushed open the door. He gently closed it behind him.

“Her
Majesty?” Banjo eyed the cat from a safe distance across the room.

Topaz
lifted his head, his green/gold eyes misty with tears as he shook his head. Banjo
sighed, unable to halt the grief he felt for Talon’s loss. “The prince
shouldn’t be alone.”

“He closed the door,” Topaz replied. “We’ll honor his
unspoken request for privacy.” Topaz slid his gaze up and down the rat. “And
I’m hungry, so best you change into something cats don’t like to eat.”

Banjo
nodded, spoke a changing chant, and shape-shifted into a king cobra. He plopped
onto the marble floor, rearing his head up in a striking pose.

“Son-of-a-bitch
.
I hate snakes!”

Banjo
flicked a black forked tongue in the air. “You sound just like that wimpy
illumrof
hero
Indiana Jones
. Come on, Topaz, act like a man.”

Topaz snorted. “I’m not a man. I’m not even a
waken
.”
He glared at Banjo, but kept his distance from the cobra. “Don’t you dare
slither away from that corner.”

Banjo
hissed and slunk closer to Topaz.

Topaz rumbled a low warning and extended his claws. “I’m
warning you, Banjo, you move another foot closer, and I’ll shape-shift into a
mongoose, a mean one that will rip off your head.

Banjo
stopped slithering and stuck out his forked tongue. “A cowardly cat, I shoulda
known.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Margaret Scott, Mary Easty,
Martha Corey, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and
Mary Parker were hanged.

~Salem Witch Trials

September 22, 1692

Sanctuary

Saylym
flipped the sign on the shop door, turned the lock, and closed the store.
Although she’d just opened, barely an hour ago, she simply wasn’t in the mood
to deal with customers. Not when Talon had deserted her. How could he stay away
all night? A single tear slid down her cheek. She swiped at it angrily. Bloody
hell!

Where
was he? She’d thought he’d be at the shop waiting for her this morning. But he
wasn’t. She hadn’t seen or heard from him all night and now he wasn’t here this
morning.

Stop
feeling sorry for yourself!

Okay. So maybe she’d told him to leave her house, but she
thought he understood she needed a few hours to think things through, to come
to some sort of understanding of what he’d said and done to her and the reasons
behind his actions.

To understand what he
hadn’t
said to her and should
have.

She hadn’t meant she didn’t want to see him at all or ever
again. She wanted her mate to make everything right. Damn it! It was his duty
to soothe her when she was upset with him. He wasn’t just supposed to
disappear. She wanted him to hold her in his arms and tell her the truth and
not the half-truths and avoidance tricks. Bloody hell! Whether she liked
hearing it or not, she
deserved
the truth! She wanted him to fix what
he’d broken.

She
wanted his love, freely given. She wanted him to want her, need her, as much as
she’d wanted and needed him.

His
love was something she felt certain he had held back from her while telling her
half-truths.

Saylym
fought to keep from bursting into tears. She’d done enough crying after Talon
left.

Witches
do not cry!

How
many times had he said that to her?

Everything
was changing, even her. Mostly her, she admitted. She sighed. Who was she
kidding? Her entire life, world, and future had taken a curve at warp speed
from the moment she slipped that magic ring on her finger. She was still trying
to catch up to the sparkly blur and not doing a very good job of it.

She gave another pitiful sniff. If she didn’t do something
or think about something else, she would start bawling like a baby. She opened
the cash register and began counting the change.

Talon had sworn they wouldn’t spend a single night apart,
but he hadn’t pushed the issue when she’d told him to go away. He’d given up
damned easily.

And his possession of her, while he’d made certain he
seduced her first, had still been brutal. She’d begged him to stop. He’d
ignored that. He’d said he couldn’t stop, but maybe he was lying to her again.

A
man who loved the woman he was holding in his arms would never continue if she
asked him to stop, would he?

But
what did she really know about the handsome
waken?
Nothing, not even his
last name. Maybe he was a man who took advantage of lonely women. Maybe he was
a man to whom women were merely sex objects, there for his pleasure.

No,
a voice whispered. He’d pleasured her. He’d been patient, skillful, and loving,
in the beginning. He made certain she enjoyed what he did to her.

Maybe once he had what he wanted, he was the type of male
who disappeared, never to be heard from again. But then why go through the
elaborate bonding ceremony? Especially when he didn’t believe she was good
enough for him? There was no purpose, unless he believed that was the only way
he could have her. That didn’t make sense either. He could have had her the day
of the picnic if mating with her was his priority.

There
was more.

There
was something important he wasn’t telling her.

She couldn’t deny he wanted to mate, but she felt he was
driven to complete the bonding. Why had he been so ruthless and so determined?
She shook her head, more confused than ever. There was no way she could ever
love a man who was cold and uncaring enough to make false vows or force a
mating.

And Talon damn sure wasn’t cold.

She felt betrayed by his actions, but maybe he’d taken her
as gently as he could.

What did she know about witches and their mating habits?
She knew he’d been in agony, waiting for his release.

A
thought suddenly slammed into her mind. “Bloody hell! What if I’m pregnant?”

She
wasn’t taking birth control. Besides, what type of birth control did a witch
use? Probably some type of magic, a skill she didn’t possess. She knew Talon
hadn’t used protection. How many times had he…?

She
gulped. Bloody, bloody hell! How many times didn’t really matter. It only took
one time.

She
pushed the pile of change to one side, her hands automatically sliding over her
belly in a protective gesture. In that instant, in that moment of first
contact, she knew.

Somehow,
she knew.

A
magical aura of light and the softness of new life surged to the tips of her
fingers. A faint stirring. Flickering warmth. Two of them. Miniature fingers
reaching out. Smiles. A tiny thumb suckled. A sweet yawn.

“Oh-my-God!” Saylym sucked a sharp breath between her
teeth and jerked her hand away. The life forms immediately weakened. Smiles
faded. Twin hearts fluttered and the beats slowed. Slower. Slower. Growing
fainter by the second. Leaving her. Dying!

“No! Stop! Don’t go! I want you! I do! Both of you! Come
back!” She cupped her belly, gently massaging the tiny replicas of Talon.
Somehow, she had to assure them of her love. Tears streamed down her face.
“Don’t go. You can’t go away.”

Once again, tiny fingers sought hers, smiles flashed, so
much like Talon’s lop-sided grin she ached.

Saylym gave a tearful laugh, sniffed. “I do want you. Both
of you,” she whispered, swiping at the tears sliding down her cheeks. “Don’t
leave me. Please, don’t leave me. You’re all I have.”

She stroked the little ones. Tears of joy slid down her
face. “Your daddy will be so surprised. And happy. Yes, happy. He’ll be happy
or I’ll know the reason why.” She shouted the words to the empty shop–glaring,
daring one single thing to say a word, to deny Talon would want his sons.

“And he’ll come back to me or I’ll know the reason why for
that, too!” She hiccupped. Nodded. She didn’t understand the power that seemed
to suddenly
zing
through her blood. She felt charged. Her body felt like
one big current of static electricity and in the very core of her being—life.