Bound by Magick 4-in-1 Box Set (Pentacles of Magick) (28 page)

An idea whispered in his head, unbidden. 
Shit
.

He fought for words. “Bring her to me.”

Denn turned and looked at him “What?” He’d heard exactly
what Noah had said and he knew it. He unfurled his hand and reached for
her. Noah’s stomach clenched tight as he waited for Denn to
respond. Finally Denn scooped her into his arms and brought her
over. “If you touch her, she could die.”

“Trust me, brother.”

Denn laid Jessie on the grassy ground next to his body. Her
face shone pale in the moonlight, looking fragile and weak. His heart
lurched. Her chestnut hair, that he could almost feel tight in his grasp
when he took her, fell across her forehead and shrouded half of her delicate
cheek.

“Noah, you can’t sacrifice her just because she’s a half
demon. She’s an innocent.”

“Demons are never innocent.”

With the last ounce of his strength he grasped her hand
tightly in his larger, rougher one and closed his eyes to focus on the instant
and electric connection sizzling between himself and Jessie.
This has to
work.
His darkness within moved, crept through him away from his lungs and
heart, lightened. He tested his legs and arms, already feeling the
difference.

“Noah,” Denn whispered urgently. “You have to stop, she’s
crashing.”

In what sounded like the distance around them, Noah thought
he heard thunder crashing and sure enough, water drops pelted his face. He
opened his mouth and took in as much of the needed water as he could.

The second enough of his strength returned he jumped from
the ground, releasing Jessie’s hand, hating himself for leaving her like that.
But, he knew what he had to do.

“What the fuck is going on?” Jake had appeared at Jessie’s
side and anger roiled from him in dark, angry waves.

“Her magick is the problem, it’s why we can’t touch the
bastard hiding behind it.”

“So you’re just going to sacrifice her to save yourself.”

Noah had to fight the impulse to pound Jake into the
ground. His plan wasn’t perfect but they were out of options.
This
is what he did, adapt and overcome. He turned his back to Jake and spoke to his
twin. 

“We need a spell, Denn, an elemental one that will call on
each one of us, and we need it damn fast. It’s almost twelve o’clock.” Denn
shook his head and Noah felt confidant that his brother was catching on to what
he was attempting to do.

“Oh, and Denn,” Noah paused, “if I don’t get a chance to
tell you later…happy birthday, old man.”

Denn smirked. “One minute earlier does not an old man make,
jerk.”

“Cash, can you and Raven keep holding him off for a while? I
need Graelen’s help in casting a quick circle around Jessie.”

“Yeah, yeah, the bastards just dicking around with us,
killing time I think.”

Noah grabbed a stick and hastily traced a circle around
where Jessie lay on the ground before he found four large rocks for the
cardinal points. North, South, East and West, and Earth, Fire, Air and
Water. Not having a pentacle on him, he again drew one at the point of
North. The circle complete, he called his brothers to their elements. Each
took their place and looked to Denn for the spell.

Like the fire, sizzle and burn;

Like the river, twist and turn;

Like the wind, strong and sure;

Like the earth, long survive;

Break the connection, we shall prevail
.

Noah watched the earth rumble underneath Denn, the air
funnel and blow around Cash, the rain came down harder on Graelen and fire
sprang up at his own feet. 

“Again.”

They all continued to chant the spell over and
over. Energy rose and crackled the air around them, every element blending
together for an unstoppable force. An unfamiliar piercing pain erupted in
Noah’s chest, taking his breath away. The fire and energy continued to
burn around him, but the sensation was that of being stabbed over and over
again. He fought against it, continuing the chant when he looked at
Denn—blood poured from his brother’s chest. Whatever was happening
to him was happening to Denn as well. Pain speared his chest again and
again. When he looked at his uncle for the source of it, he saw Severina’s
face through the red haze.  God Damn Voodoo. 
Bitch
.

“We have to stop, now!” Graelen yelled over the din of the
energy in the circle. 

“No!” This truly was their only chance. Sacrifices
could be made, had to be.

All four brothers continued their chants and Noah and Denn
fell to their knees, clutching their chests in fired agony.

Jessie stirred in the circle, her body aglow, writhing
against the ground. In one instant flash, all of the brothers’ magick
arrowed into her, sending her flying across the circle. She lay quietly with
magick coursing around her.

“Jessie, wake the fuck up and do something now. Time is
up!” Noah yelled at her before crumpling to the ground. 

* * *

Jessie opened her eyes and looked around, trying to remember
what happened. The brothers surrounded her and, dear Goddess, Noah was on
the ground in a pool of blood, as was Denn. She heard voices in a fog,
saying something to her, none of which she understood over the rage roaring in
her ears. Her body swam with a powerful magick, not her own but something
stronger. A mixture of angry dark and powerful light. She turned
again and spotted the man responsible for all of this. 

There was only one way to fix this.

He had her magick and, damn it, she wanted it back and she
wanted it right now! She ran from the circle, pulling the energy as she did.

“It’s a good night to die, you bastard. If I go, you go,
too.”

“You would waste your life and your power on them?” Scott’s
voice dripped with a thick hatred that would never change. Evil was evil.
Just like Noah had told her.

With no thought of what could happen or what should happen,
she let the rage of the last few months take over, and her body violently
expelled all the magick through her hands aimed at Scott. The man who had
tortured her and had been about to kill her when Noah rescued her.

The explosion knocked her back into the circle and blinded
them all with a flash of brilliant white light that lit up the entire sky
surrounding them, the entire cove became bathed in enough artificial daylight
to temporarily obliterate the night. Jessie’s head hit a rock when she
bounced on the ground before landing in the soft grass near the
deck. Selene and Rena came running over to her.

“Holy crap, Jessie, are you all right?” They both reached
down and helped her stand. 

Disoriented she stared unseeing in front of her until her
vision cleared. Despite everything she’d been through, her power zinged through
her body, firing her with renewed energy and strength once again. Her
magick was back. 

But…

“I’m fine. What about Noah?” She glanced around
frantically, looking for the men, when through smoke and haze she spotted them
on the other side of the clearing. As she ran toward them she watched Cash
help Noah to his feet and Graelen assisting Denn. They both looked a
little worse for the wear, but their color was good and they were making their
way out of the circle on their own.

She stopped short, watching Noah approach. His face
showed nothing—no emotion, no pain, just a blank face. He looked at
her then, up and down as if inspecting her to ensure she was okay, then he
turned and walked toward the house without saying a word. Her heart broke as
she watched his back and knew that she’d lost him for good this time.

He hated demons and now he hated her.

“Give him some time, he’ll come around. I saw the way
he looked at you, and that’s just not something that goes away.”

She smiled at Denn’s words. She hoped he was right,
although she had her doubts.  She glanced at his blood soaked shirt.

“Are you okay? Can you heal that? “

“Normally, yes. I’m a little weak right now, we might have
to go with some old fashioned doctoring.”

She pressed her palm to his chest, letting out just a touch
of her magick, heating up his chest. His sharp intake of breath let her
know he was feeling it and it would be working in a second. A few minutes
later she pulled away, noticing his color looked better and he flashed an
incredible, wide sexy smile.  He really did look so remarkably like Noah,
it gave her chills.

“Now you can heal him. I’m sure he won’t want me anywhere
near him.”

“Have faith, Jessie. You’re a remarkable woman.” Denn
and Raven headed to the house and Jake lingered long enough to give her a hug
and a kiss before he, too, followed them in.

She didn’t fit in here, she would have to leave at dawn.
Selene walked up behind her and grasped her lightly by the elbow and propelled
her towards the house. “Come on, you need a hot shower and some rest, maybe
even some food. Things are bound to look better in the morning after
everyone has had some sleep.”

“What about Scott and the rest?”

“The coven ran a long time ago, the Voodoo woman
disappeared, and I don’t think there is much left of Scott. Other than a
pile of smoking ash where he was last seen standing.  I really don’t think
anyone could have survived what you threw at him. Those boys of ours produced
some serious shit back there. The whole thing was quite a display. 
Gave me chills the whole time.”

Jessie tried to swallow past the lump in her throat over
Selene’s use of “ours” when referring to the twins. Theirs, not hers.  She
bit down on her lip, drawing a little blood to staunch the flow of tears
threatening to break free.

* * *

Jessie opened her eyes just a slit, trying to adjust to the
bright sunlight shining into the room. Noah had insisted on her taking his
bed, saying he would sleep somewhere else. It had been the only words he’d
said all night. She’d wanted to leave last night but she didn’t think she
could navigate the swamps on her own in the dark. So she’d settled for packing
her meager things and then slept in her clothes so she could head out as soon
as the sun came up. 

A knock at the door startled her, and she sat up and rubbed
the sleep from her eyes. “Come in.”

“Hey, sweetie, how are you?” Seeing Jake did her heart good.
She really was grateful their ordeal was over for good and he had found the
relationship that suited him perfectly. 

“Doing a lot better now. I’m ready to head home, put this
whole thing behind me and get on with my life.” She got up and stuffed the last
remaining items into her duffel and slipped on her shoes.

“Do you love him, Jessie?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It always matters.”

She laughed. “Love really has altered your perceptions,
hasn’t it?”

“He loves you, too, you know.”

She shook her head. “C’mon he will never love a
demon. We both know that. He has devoted his life to hunting and
destroying them so the last think he’s going to do is let his guard down again
for the likes of me.

Jake started to say something and she waved him
off. “It’s okay, I knew this would happen eventually. Now I just need to
get out of here and away from him.”

“Yeah, about that…”

Jessie’s chest seized with a sharp pain. Jake didn’t need to
tell her anything more she knew. “He’s gone already.”

“Gone before anyone woke up. No note, just gone.”

Chapter Eight

Noah stood in the shadows across the street and watched her
tidy up the place. When she bent over to pick up something from the floor, the
denim of her jeans tightened across her ass, making him ache for her naked
underneath him once again.

He’d fled his cabin in the middle of the night just a little
over four months ago and had done everything he could to get over her. He
hunted demons, rescued people from heinous magickal crimes, and even tried to
go out with a few women in the hopes of forgetting. Problem was, no place could
take him far enough away to forget how she made him feel. Happy. Excited.
Loved.

His obsessive need to be with her had forced him to face his
hatred of her kind and consider that she wasn’t a true demon, that her witch
blood made her different. His brother had called him every week with an
update on her and how she was doing. He’d heard she finally decided to
stay in New Orleans and had just celebrated opening a new wine bar, Verve. He’d
arrived back in the city the night before and had spent the time watching her,
thinking about how to approach her. Would she forgive him for leaving the
way he did without giving her the benefit of the doubt at all?  Or the fact
he’d been gone all this time without so much as a word?

He didn’t think he could apologize for that. She’d
hidden who she was, and for that he ached to drag her across his knees and
spank some sense into her. He chuckled at the thought. He could only imagine
how she’d take that.

When the last customer of the night left, he crossed over
and walked through the door. 

“I’m sorry, we’re closed for the night,” she called out
without even turning to see who she talked to. She seemed preoccupied with
her cleaning.

“I’m not really much of a wine guy.”

Her head shot up over the bar and he eyes widened when she
saw him. “Noah?”

“What, after just a few months you already can’t tell me and
Denn apart?” He smiled, trying to keep the mood light between them. She gave him
a tiny smirk, grabbed a towel and began wiping down the bar.

“Nice place you’ve got here.”

She stopped and looked around, pride shining on her
face. “I’m in love with the place, actually. It’s been a lot of work
fixing it up, but I’m damn proud of it.”

“As you should be.”

“So, how long are you home for? Are you going back out to
the cabin? Denn fixed it back up, you know. He seems as fond of that place as
you are.”

“I’m sure I’ll make it out there at some point, kind of
depends.”

“On what?”

“On you, Jessie. I don’t think I could ever spend time out
there without remembering our short time together there. You and me on the
deck, on the floor, all pictures I can’t get out of my head.”

“I’m sure you’ll get over it, lover boy.” Sarcasm dripped
from her words.

“I tried. It didn’t work.” He held back—waiting.

She wrinkled her forehead in confusion. “I don’t understand.
What about—”

“It doesn’t matter. I know how I feel and I know who
you are. Who your parents are shouldn’t matter.”

A heavy sigh escaped her lips. “It’s not that easy, Noah. I
have the demon magick back and it’s as volatile as ever. I do my best to
suppress it, but even I make mistakes sometimes.”

“Then maybe I am just what you need. Maybe it’s not
just you who balances me, but also me who balances you.”

When she didn’t respond right away, he chose to remain
silent. To give her as much time as she needed to think about it. He had a
lot to make up for and he was willing to take his time. She was worth it.

Finally she set the towel down and turned her gaze to his.
Heat and magick swelled around them. “How about a drink, Noah?”

“I told you, I’m really not much of a wine drinker.”

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She bent
down behind the bar and rummaged around back there. Moments later she popped
back up with a bottle of Patrone in her hand and two shot glasses in the other.

“You remembered.”

“Of course I did.”

“Were you expecting me?’

“I was hoping for you.”

The End