The Promise (The Coven Series) (11 page)

The
Martins were already gone to the Hall to get things ready for tonight, so I let
myself in the back door.
 
I did the one
legged hop into the bathroom as I pulled my jeans and t-shirt off.
 
Fifteen minutes later, I was dressed and ready.
 
Thank the Fates I’d applied my makeup at home
before I left.
 
I’d have been so late
otherwise.
 
The only jewelry I wore was
Emily’s locket.

My
tennis shoes stayed on until I sat down on the park bench.
 
Then they went into the backpack I hid in the
bushes next to the bench.
 
The strappy
heels took some careful maneuvering, but I managed to wrestle them on.
 
My watch told me it was 6:52.
 
I was early, but Ethan was earlier.
 
I saw him leaning against one of the trees
watching me, a smile on his face.
 

I
stopped breathing the minute my eyes found him.
 
Dressed in black trousers, a red shirt, and a simple black jacket, he
looked like some dark angel come to tempt me.
 
His hair fell around his face haphazardly and his smile turned wicked
when he pushed away from the tree and walked towards me.

He
took a seat and leaned into me.
 
“Breathe, Cassie Jayne,” he whispered.

I
closed my eyes and forced air into my lungs.
 
He knew exactly what he did to me.
 
So unfair.
 
I didn’t think I had nearly the same effect on him.

“You
look very nice,” I managed to get out.
 
He looked more than nice.
 
In
truth, he could have been on the cover of GQ Magazine and he was mine.
 
My own personal M&M, I thought with a
grin.
 

“Why
are you grinning, Cassie?”

“No
reason,” I said and blushed.
 
No way in
hell would I ever tell him his
nickname.

“You’re
blushing.”
 
His eyes glinted with a
wicked light.
 
“Were you having indecent
thoughts about me?”

“What…NO!”
 
My face burned scarlet.
 
I could feel the heat of it creep up my neck
and into my scalp.
 

“Hmm…that’s
a shame, Cassie Jayne Bishop,” he whispered into my ear.
 

“It
is?” I swallowed at the feel of his warm breath against my ear.
 

“Yes.”
 
His teeth grazed my earlobe and I shivered in
response.
 
“Do you want to know why?”

“Why?”
I struggled to pay attention.
 

“Because I’ve been having indecent thoughts about you for days.”
 
He trailed butterfly kisses along my jaw and
then down the curve of my neck.

“You
have?” I gasped.
 
My breathing hitched
into overdrive and my heart galloped out of control.
 
I felt a little dizzy.
 
How could he do this to me, I wondered?
 
I’d been kissed many times before, but no one
had ever had this kind of effect upon me before.
 
Ethan could make me forget everything except
him.
 

“Days,”
he confirmed and pulled me to my feet.
 
“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”

“No.”
 
His gray eyes grew darker and darker as
he stared into my own.
 
I could drown in
those eyes.

His
smile turned tender and his eyes flamed with an emotion I couldn’t define.
 
“No?
 
Well, let me say, Miss Bishop, you are the most beautiful girl I have
ever met in all my days.”
 
His hand
cupped my cheek.
 
“My
Cassie.”

His Cassie?
 
My heart
melted into a puddle at my feet.

His
lips came down on mine in the softest, most gentle kiss I’d ever
experienced.
 
The truth struck me then
and I stiffened up.
 
I was falling in
love with this boy.
 
And that scared
me.
 

“What’s
wrong?”
 
He pulled away to look at
me.
 

“Nothing.”
I took a shaky breath and buried my face in his
shirt.
 
“You make me feel things no one
else ever has.”
 

“I
should hope no one has ever made you feel like this,” he whispered into my hair
and tightened his arms around me.
 
“You’re mine, Cassie.”

“Yours?”
I pulled away and looked up into his eyes.
 
They glowed with warmth.
 

“Mine,”
he nodded.
 
“If you
want to be.”

My
brain screamed too soon, too soon, but my heart blocked out the words.
 
Nothing made sense when it came to
Ethan.
 
Just the sound of his voice could
stir a multitude of emotions within me.
 
I’d only known him about a week, but I’d spent most of every minute of
that time either with him or talking to him on the phone.
 
He made me feel things that I’d never
experienced and the thought of us being apart caused a physical pain within
me.
 

He
was also very good at dodging questions, and I knew he was keeping something
from me.
 
I had to wonder what he was
hiding and sometimes, thinking about that scared me more than anything else
did.
 
But none of that mattered to me as
I stared into eyes that gazed down at me with so much warmth.

Did
I want to be his?
 
I might be
afraid.
 
He was probably lying to
me.
 
But I wanted him.

“I
do.”
 

His
smile lit up his face.
 
“Good to hear,
Miss Bishop.
 
Now, we’d best get
going.
 
We’re already late as it is.”

He
turned us into the park and started walking.

“Shouldn’t
we be going to the hall?” I asked, confused.

He
laughed and pulled me into his side.
 
“Not tonight, sweetheart.”

I
frowned and let him lead me deeper into the woods behind the park.

Where
the hell were we going?

Chapter Nine

The
trees became thicker the farther in we walked, knitting overhead to block off
any light from the moon.
 
It should have
been dark, but it wasn’t.
 
I could see
the path clearly in front of me.
 
A soft
light permeated the entire area, but I couldn’t find its source.
 

“What’s
with the light?” I asked Ethan.
 
“Where’s
it coming from?”

He
smiled.
 
“Magic.”

I
rolled my eyes.

The
ground around me yielded no clues.
 
I
couldn’t so much as detect a wire anywhere.
 
It was just a soft glow that covered the forest floor.
 
The harder I looked, the more confused I
became.
 
Where was the stupid light
coming from?

“We’re
here,” Ethan whispered.

My
head jerked up.
 
I’d been so busy looking
for the source of the
light,
I’d failed to notice we
had come upon a large clearing.
 
I knew
this place.
 
Emily and I had come here
often growing up, more so after she’d joined the Coven.
 
She’d always said she got her best ideas
here, that it was her special place.
 
She
would usually let me tag along with her and I’d enjoyed it as much as she
had.
 
This place had a hushed, quiet feel
to it that managed to soothe and calm a person.
 
I loved it here.
 
I still came
here to think.
 
It had become my own
private thinking place after she died.

But not tonight.
 
There was nothing hushed or quiet about it.
 
Practically the whole town mingled in and
around the circular clearing.
 
Our entire
town was a part of the Coven and the only people not in attendance were those
who were too young to be here and their unfortunate babysitters.
 
I smiled, my hand reaching up to touch
Emily’s locket as I remembered again my agitation at being left at home the
night of Emily’s induction.
 

I
recognized everyone.
 
They were laughing
and talking with each other, some in heated debates.
 
Everyone had dressed in their best.
 
Ball gowns, tuxedos, expensive shoes, and
pricey jewelry were mixed in with Target and JC Penny dress clothes and evening
wear.
 
All I could think was…WOW.
 

I
glanced up at Ethan.
 
He grinned down at
me.
 
“Not what you were expecting?”

I
shook my head.
 
Definitely
not what I was expecting.
 
In
truth, I had expected people to be wearing long, hooded robes and to be
standing all quiet and hushed while they waited for the Coven Master to begin
the ceremony.
 
This, however, was bright
and airy, full of smiles and laughter.
 
The atmosphere gave off a sense of home, of belonging.
 
It felt familiar to me, like I was coming
home after a long trip.
 
Was this what
Emily had meant when she’d said I’d understand when I was older?
 
Was this what she’d felt?
 
Was this why she had loved the Coven so
much?
 
There was just so much I didn’t
understand.

“Are
we going to stand here all day or are we going in?” Ethan whispered against my
ear.
 
It caused a shiver to run down my
spine.
 
He chuckled.

“We
enter the circle one at a time,” he told me as we walked closer.

“But
I thought you couldn’t cross a circle once it had been cast.”

“This
one isn’t closed yet,” he explained.
 
“Kay will close it when she begins the ceremony.”

Oh,
well, I guess that made sense.
 
He pushed
me forward.
 
I dragged my feet.
 
I’d come, but a part of me wanted to turn tail
and run.
 
An insane feeling gripped
me.
 
If I entered that clearing, I would
never be the same.
 
The sane part of my
brain told me I was being ridiculous, but the deeper part of my brain that
still pulsed with primitive instincts said to run as far and as fast as I could
away from this place.

I
needed answers, though.
 
If these people
had played any part in Emily’s death, I would find out.
 
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself forward
and crossed into the circle.

Time
stopped.
 

I
couldn’t breathe.
 

Hurricane
force winds crashed into me and I staggered under their force.
 

The
ground rumbled beneath my feet and a misty rain started to fall around me.
 

The
air blazed hotter than the August sun.

I
felt dizzy, but then the world righted itself and a sense of peace settled
within me.
 
The same calm that this place
always offered me was back and air filled my lungs again.
 

“Very
good, Cassie,” Ethan told me and took my arm.
 

“What
the hell was that?” I gasped.
 
I felt
weird, excited…sick.
 

“The
five Elements greeted you,” Kay laughed and pulled me into a fierce hug.
 
“You came!
 
I can’t believe you came!”
 

“What
are you talking about?”
 
I’d spent a lot
of time here and that had never happened before.
 

“We
began the invocation of a circle,” she explained and pulled me along with her
towards the front of the clearing.
 
“The
five Elements we use for our spelling are present and when you came into the
circle, they said hello and welcome.”

“Is
it always that…disorienting?”
 
I still
wasn’t so sure about the Element thing, but I had definitely felt
something.
 
Even I couldn’t deny
that.
 

“They
don’t greet everyone, CJ,” she sighed.
 
“Only a handful of people have received that kind of welcome since the
founding of the town.
 
Emily was the last
to receive it until now.”

“But
you…”

“Can
manipulate them and get them to do my bidding, yes, but have never been greeted
by them.”
 
A look of sadness crossed her
face, but she pushed it aside and beamed at me.
 
I felt her sadness stab through me.
 
It made me feel guilty.
 
Insane,
as I never asked for the Elements to greet me, but Kay wanted their
greeting.
 
I felt no malice or envy from
her, just a deep sadness.
 
It made me
feel all the more guilty.
 
“I’m so glad
you came.
 
Megan is going to flip when
she sees you.”