Witch's Awakening (15 page)

Surrounded by witches at his oak table, Jake found himself caught up in the story of the Connellys who founded Mourne County. In the papers from Frances, the women had found an English translation of the first Sarah Connelly's story of their flight from Ireland.

“They were running from absolute devastation,” Brenna said. “The problems started in the 1700s with a fungal infection in potatoes. Then it got so cold that no crops could grow.”

“I confirmed it all on the internet,” Fiona added. “It was part of what's called the ‘Little Ice Age' in Europe, their last big freeze.”

“So the Connelly witches came to America,” Jake said.

Eva Grace served herself a second helping of salad. “According to the pages we put back in the book today, there were more than a hundred people in the Connelly party. But only forty-nine of them were alive when they reached Charleston. After that, they packed up their belongings and traveled in wagons over the mountains to get here.”

“It was late spring when they arrived,” Brenna said, sipping her wine. “They planted a good crop and were creating a new home, but a terrible fever went through the settlement in October.”

“It snowed before Samhain.” Fiona frowned. “Even back then that was extreme weather. Many of their cattle disappeared into the mountains during the storm. They were convinced the bad luck had followed them.”

“The Connellys were the leaders and well-known for their magic,” Brenna explained. “Everyone in the village looked to Sarah to do something. Not knowing what else to do, she appealed to the spirit of the land to help them.”

Eva Grace shivered. “Her journal said she knew the magic here was black and she feared it. But she had no other choice.”

The table fell silent. Jake looked from woman to woman. “What happened then?” he asked. “Does she tell us what happened with the Woman in White?”

“There are pages missing from the story after she was going to the cliff above the waterfall,” Brenna told him. “The next entry is the record of her daughter's death. Sarah said her Maeve was ‘given in tribute to the Woman who dwelt at the falls.'”

Jake sat back, not quite understanding. “Does it say why Sarah made such a terrible sacrifice? Wasn't there another way?”

The witches shook their heads.

“We can't find another word that Sarah wrote,” Eva Grace said, sighing. “Before her daughter's passing, she wrote spells and charms, and detailed daily life in the settlement. Afterward, there was nothing.”

“Until another Connelly witch took up the story, decades later.” Brenna bit her lip. “She wrote about her younger sister falling over the cliff. And she mentioned demons were loose in the town.”

“We found tales of devils and evil spirits throughout the book,” Fiona said. “Every fifteen to thirty years, there were plagues of insects, murders and cases of unexplained madness. Just as we've been setting wards throughout the county this past week, the Connelly witches back then were busy, too. In the 1880s, three of the coven drove out a demon that possessed a local hermit. The guy started killing everything in sight—livestock, horses and, finally, people.”

“Like the farmer who took out his wife's prize hens yesterday after church.” Jake was shaken by the information the women had gleaned. It confirmed his worst fears. None of this was random. They were under siege from a sinister force.

“One thing is very strange,” Brenna said, leaning forward. “There's no mention of the Woman in White killing anyone the way she killed Garth. As far as we could see, she only took Connellys.”

“Maybe she's in another form when she wreaks havoc on the rest of the community,” Eva Grace suggested. “Plenty of people close to the family have lost their lives through the years.”

“But never by her hand.” Brenna's eyes were bright as she considered this possibility. Jake could tell her thoughts were whirling in a million directions. “We have to find out who the Woman was. That's the key.”

“There's still some of the book to go through,” Fiona said.

“The answer won't be there.” Brenna looked certain, and her sister and cousin didn't disagree. “But we have to keep looking. Remember what Willow told us today.”

“You talked to Willow?”

The women told him about the puzzling visit from the faerie as they cleared the table. Their quick teamwork amazed Jake. Like magic, leftovers were stowed in the fridge and the dishwasher loaded in half the time it would have taken him. Maybe it was magic, he thought, grinning as he watched them from his seat at the table. He could get used to witches in his kitchen.

“You cook, we clean,” Fiona said, as she smiled back. “When you come over for dinner at my place, you'll be doing dishes.”

Eva Grace sighed as she crossed the kitchen. “I'm really tired, guys. Aren't you?”

Jake looked at her in concern. Eva Grace was pale and drawn. He got to his feet, reaching for her arm. “You need to sit down. You're worn out.”

“And you took all of my pain.” Realization breaking across her face, Brenna crossed the room to her cousin's side. “No wonder I'm not feeling like I was punched in the face. For the second time in three days, you took my hurt away. Eva Grace, you can't do that—”

“It's what I do,” Eva Grace said, though she looked a little shaky as she sat in Jake's chair. “I'm not going to let you suffer, Brenna. I couldn't do that. And something terrible is after you. The same thing that took Garth.” She put her head in her hands.

The rest of them stood in awkward silence, looking at her. For once neither Brenna nor Fiona seemed to know what to do or say as their cousin fought for control of her emotions.

Eva Grace didn't give into tears, Jake observed with admiration. She drew in a deep breath, and then looked up at them. A brave smile played about her lips. “I think I'm done for this day, folks.”

“You were going to go to the shop today,” Brenna said with even more guilt. “And I made you spend the day on all of this instead.”

“All of this is life or death,” Eva Grace replied with firmness. “Because we were together, we have valuable information we didn't have before.”

“And we got the book in good working shape for Mom and Dad to look at it,” Fiona added.

Brenna's frown didn't escape Jake's notice. She still wasn't keen on her parents coming, but he could tell Fiona and Eva Grace didn't share her feelings. Wisely, she didn't pursue the subject now.

Jake assured Fiona and Eva Grace he would get Brenna's car out of his yard or take her home himself. The two of them left in Eva Grace's smart little convertible.

Night sounds closed in around Jake and Brenna as they stood together on his front porch. Moonlight slanted through the trees. The scent of pine was heavy in the humid summer air.

“I imagine you're as tired as Eva Grace,” he said when the quiet stretched a little too long.

“Not really.”

Silence again bloomed between them. Jake felt awkward. All night he'd wanted to be alone with Brenna, but now what? They had already discussed what a bad idea it would be to give into their attraction. So how could he reach out to her again without seeming like a jerk?

“I guess you noticed what I'm wearing for you,” she said, surprising him.

“I did notice the dress.” Jake allowed his gaze to slip down her ripe figure and up again. “I didn't know it was for me.”

Her laughter was low and throaty. “That's the kind of statement that always infuriates females because it had to cross your mind that I dressed up for you.”

He felt trapped. If he said he thought her sexy outfit was for his benefit, he could sound conceited. If he lied, she might be insulted.

“You seem uncertain,” Brenna said. “Don't you like the dress?”

“Very much,” Jake admitted, thinking he couldn't go wrong with an outright compliment. “You look beautiful.”

“I've been thinking about you.” She trailed a hand down the porch railing as she walked to the end of the porch. “About us.”

“I thought we agreed there can't be an ‘us.'”

She sighed. “I know that's for the best, but I've still been thinking about us.”

“Have you reached any conclusions?”

Standing at the railing, she looked over her shoulder and smiled. “I think that's what I'm trying to do right now.”

Jake knew an invitation when it was extended. He was cautious about all females, but turning Brenna down as she smiled in the moonlight was beyond him. He stepped close and drew her into his arms.

Chapter Fourteen

Brenna knew she was being impulsive. Although she had chosen her dress with deliberate care and imagined Jake admiring her in it, she also told herself nothing was going to happen. She was not getting involved with the shifter.

Or was she?

The question picked at her as Jake kissed her. Oh, and he could kiss. The preliminary kisses they shared paled in comparison to this deep, searching, yearning kiss. It wasn't casual or fun. It wasn't the sort of kiss she usually sought. Just as this intense shifter wasn't the kind of companion she usually picked. Jake violated all her rules.

That thought made her break away from him. “I think you lied to me the other night.”

He frowned. “About what?”

“You said you spent a lot of years avoiding females. But no one kisses like you without a lot of practice.”

His answer was another kiss. His lips trailed down her neck, and his sound of satisfaction was a deep purr that culminated in a growl.

He jerked back and looked at her, alarmed.

“Your animal side doesn't bother me,” she said. “I know who you are, Jake.”

“Not really,” he said as he stepped away. “We don't know each other. This is a bad idea.”

“Are you usually this concerned when you growl at a female?”

“I don't growl often.”

“Oh, please.” She laughed. “Don't tell me you're a celibate loner. I don't buy that for a minute.”

He shrugged. “I'm not celibate, but I am a loner. Male tigers don't really want nor need companions.”

“But you're not all tiger. Part of you is human.” She reached out and took his hand. “I'm not afraid of you.”

“Maybe you should be.”

She was perplexed by his reaction. He had wanted her last night. He called her today. She had abandoned her trepidation about her attraction for him because she wanted him, too. Even Fiona and Eva Grace knew something was building between them, but now he backed off? Maybe he didn't understand what she was looking for.

“Jake, I'm not trying to marry you.”

Her words startled him. “I didn't say you were. What do you mean?”

“How could I be the slightest bit interested in long-term planning when my life is on the line from the Woman in White?” She turned back to the moonlit yard. “All I'm saying is that despite my best efforts at resistance, I'm attracted to you. I thought you felt the same toward me. I just decided…” She hugged her arms to her middle. “I guess I made a mistake. Let me get my purse and if you'll get my car out of the yard I'll go home.”

She headed for the front door.

Jake stopped her with an outstretched hand. “I'm not rejecting you, Brenna. I'm just being cautious. It's the way I have to live my life.”

She tipped her head to the side, studying his expression in the dim light. “So you never do anything on impulse? You never take a chance?”

“Being a shifter requires control. I learned that the hard way when I was a boy. The wrong move and my wild side takes control.”

Brenna sensed the pain in his voice. Something bad had happened to make him this way. But who could understand better than she did living under tight constraints?

“I do know how you feel,” she told him, her voice soft. “Only I'm just the opposite of you. I've spent a lot of time taking chances because of what I learned about myself at a young age. When you find out some crazy spirit is likely to take your life before you're thirty, you are often tempted to throw caution to the wind. I was following my wild side tonight when I wore this dress and decided to seduce you.”

Jake drew in a deep breath. “Maybe our wild sides aren't meant to align.”

She was close enough to feel the warmth of his body. Like most shifters, he gave off plenty of heat. Her pulse quickened in reaction. The dreams from last night teased her memory. Him and her. Naked. In the woods under the moon.

“Jake,” she breathed out his name. She felt his yearning and his dread. “You can be yourself with me.” She reached out, took his hands and threaded her fingers through his. “I have magic, remember? I'm very well armed, even against shifters.”

Jake lifted his hands to her shoulders. “I'm very tempted by you.” His fingers trailed up and down her arms, making her shiver.

She pressed her body to his. “That's good to hear. You could hurt my feelings, you know. And an insulted witch is not the kind you want for a friend.”

“Are we friends?”

“Well, we're not enemies.”

“It seemed to start that way.”

“I was preoccupied by the family curse.”

“And now?”

“Maybe I want a distraction. Just a distraction. You can keep your loner ways intact, tiger.” She framed his face with her hands, intrigued by the way his eyes turned silvery in the moonlight. “We're both adults and we've got no commitments. We're not making any commitments, either.”

“You know entanglements are never simple,” Jake replied, still holding back from her. “And I'm the sheriff now—”

She threw back her head and laughed. “Are you standing here, telling me you're worried about your reputation?”

“That's not what I meant.” He sighed, his arms closing around her, pulling her close. “There's so much happening, and your family is at the center of most of it. I need to keep my perspective.”