Witch's Awakening (9 page)

Jake got to his feet. He had to stop this right now.

“Go to bed,” he told Lauren in a flat, even tone. “I don't need anything from you.”

Lauren stood and took a deep breath, unruffled by his rejection. “I was just trying to be helpful. Goodnight, Jake.”

He followed her to the door and closed it in her face when she turned to smile at him one last time.

What in the hell was wrong with everyone?

He waited until he heard a door close down the hallway. Then he paced like a tiger in a cage. He wanted to shed his human form and run in the woods to rid himself of Lauren's cloying scent.

He couldn't stand the smell another minute. He opened the door and stalked across the hall to the bathroom. With quick jerky movements, he scrubbed his hands, arms and face, and roughly dried them with the plush guest towel he found on a decorative stand. He felt like a bull in a china shop amid the feminine décor of the little room.

Under the sink, however, he found what he needed and took it back to the bedroom. Hoping it didn't disturb Brenna, he sprayed Lysol. It drove the last trace of Lauren from the air.

And woke Brenna up.

She sat up, choking, and glared at him. “What are you doing?”

He moved to her side. “Are you okay?”

“Other than almost being murdered by disinfectant, yes, I'm okay.”

“I'm sorry.” He poured her some water from the pitcher Frances had placed on the dresser. Brenna seemed strong and alert as she drank it down. She demanded to get up to visit the bathroom and winced only a few times while he escorted her across the hall.

As he helped her back to bed, however, she demanded, “What are you doing here?”

No way on earth was he going to admit the strange compulsion he felt to stay with her. “I thought you needed protection, and I'm the sheriff,” he said instead.

She grumbled in annoyance as she slid back under the covers. “The coven is protecting me. I can feel Sarah's magic here.” But then Brenna frowned. “Once upon a time, it would have made me sleep all night.”

Jake sat down on the edge of the bed. “Do you know what happened? “

“A vine tried to kill me.” She looked surprised by her own words. “I remember the plant. It twisted around me. I couldn't breathe.” For the first time, panic edged her voice.

“You're safe now.” Jake's tone was gruff as he reached out to stroke her hair. He breathed in the natural, sweet scent of honeysuckle. Brenna's fragrance was more potent than Lauren's nauseating attempt at allure.

Brenna's eyes widened at his touch.

He jerked his hand away. What was he thinking?

“You got me out of that vine,” Brenna said. “I remember now.”

“Frances was with me. Your aunt is one tough witch. Quick on her feet and in her mind.”

“Where was Lauren?”

“We had you out of the vine before she got there.”

“But she was there…” Brenna shook her head and sighed. “I guess I don't remember everything.”

“No, think about it,” he said. As an investigator, he couldn't resist pressing for her first recall of the incident. “What did you see?”

“I thought I saw Lauren.” She studied him, her eyes narrowing. “I just heard her voice too, just a minute ago.”

“She was in here,” he admitted. God, he hoped Brenna hadn't taken in all of his exchange with Lauren.

Brenna chuckled. “She tried to seduce you.”

He drew away. Her nonchalance showed how disinterested she was in him. That shouldn't bother him so much, but it did.

“Lauren is just Lauren.” Brenna's tone was matter-of-fact. “And we've always been competitive. She probably senses I'm attracted to you and that spurred her on.”

“It was more than that,” Jake insisted. “She acted weird.”

“That's Lauren.”

“No, it's…” His brain circled back to her words. “Wait a second. You said you're attracted to me?”

Brenna's gaze was steady. “That's what I said.”

“That comes as a surprise.”

“Surely a big cat like you can scent a female's interest.”

“Sometimes my animal instinct is short circuited by the confusing behavior of women.”

“I'm a witch, not a woman,” Brenna pointed out.

“But you're female, and that makes you a complete mystery. How was I supposed to know that I held the slightest appeal for you?”

“You weren't. My obnoxious behavior toward you was supposed to put up a barrier between us. It's what I do with males.”

Because Jake often did the same thing with females, he understood. “But now?”

“You stayed here with me.”

“Like I said, I'm the sheriff—”

“And that has nothing to do with you being here,” Brenna interrupted. “We both know that.”

She had him there. He drew in a breath. Her mouth lifted to his. It was as if they had kissed a thousand times, he thought as his lips claimed hers. So new, but so right.

He pushed aside that thought before the kiss deepened. Getting the idea that something could be right with a female was dangerous. That couldn't happen for him.

“You move me, shifter,” Brenna murmured against his lips, sounding drowsy.

“Damn.” He gave into the most primitive of instincts and kissed her again. Taking her now was what his nature told him to do. As he had done all of his life, Jake fought the tiger deep inside. He was determined to be different from his father. If that meant living alone, then so be it. Just because Brenna appealed to him like no female ever had, it didn't mean anything had changed.

He pulled away, struggling with himself. Brenna helped him regain control as her almond-shaped, green eyes drifted shut again. They were green as the rolling hills of Ireland, Jake thought as she slid back into sleep. She barely stirred as he settled her back against the fragrant pillowcases of Frances's bed.

He wanted to curve his body around hers, but he couldn't take that chance. Instead, he moved back to the chair. He did allow himself to sleep, however, strangely certain that no evil could touch either of them tonight.

Chapter Ten

Sensing someone watching her, Brenna pulled herself out of sleep. In the faint light sliding past mini blinds and pink ruffled curtains, Jake's gaze was steady on hers.

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded, her sleep-fogged brain easing into full awareness. There had been a flower, a vine, Jake pulling her free, and her family around her. Somewhere in all of this, she had kissed Jake.

Her eyes flew wide open and she sat up.

“Brenna?” Jake's tone was full of concern.

“I'm fine, just fine,” she assured him. So she hadn't just dreamed he sat by her bedside all night. And she hadn't dreamed that kiss, either. Wonder what he thought about that?

“It's still early,” Jake said, sitting forward in his chair. “You could go back to sleep.”

“And pretend nothing happened yesterday.” She sighed and dragged a hand through her tousled hair. “I love that idea.”

On the bedside table, his cell phone chirped. Footsteps sounded in the hallway. Frances or Lauren was already up and getting ready for the day.

“Can't run from it,” Jake said and picked up his phone. He squinted at the display and said he didn't recognize the number. “It's not quite seven on a Sunday morning and someone is calling. Sometimes it's two or three in the afternoon before we even have a speeding car on Sundays in New Mourne. I hope to God nothing else has happened.”

He stood, shoulders rippling under his plain white T-shirt as he stretched. At some point during the night he removed his khaki uniform shirt and made himself more comfortable.

Brenna felt a pang of guilt. “You didn't have to stay with me all night. I would have been fine with Frances and Lauren.”

“I couldn't leave you.” It was a statement of fact, a blunt and bold declaration that made Brenna uncomfortable.

He didn't look any more pleased about it himself.

“I doubt the owl would have let me leave,” Jake continued. “Did you hear him last night?”

“Did an owl wake us up earlier?”

“Just before sunrise.” He told her how the owl had flown in from the woods when he arrived at Frances's house before he found her wrapped in the evil vine. “The bird left just as quickly, but I think it came back last night and was right outside this window.”

“He hissed several times,” Brenna said, only now remembering one of the times she awakened during the night. “That's the sound barn owls make when they're warning you away from their nest or their territory.”

“I've had plenty of them hiss at me in the woods at night. The sound is eerie. It's even more unsettling to hear one during the day.” Jake lifted one of the blinds covering the window to peek outside. “I wonder what happened out there that the owl wanted to tell us about.” “Or warn us against.” Brenna shivered.

Jake studied her. “Do you remember anything else about the plant attacking you?”

“The flower was beautiful, and I had to touch it. I was drawn to it.” Brenna recalled the perfect symmetry of the blossom, its blood red color and intoxicating smell. She also remembered the eyes she thought she saw glimmering at her from behind the bloom and the leaves.

“So your immediate thought was the fae?” Jake asked after she described the moment for him.

“I just saw what I thought were eyes. There was nothing distinctly fae. We've never had the slightest quarrel with any of the faeries who live in the Mourne County. Why would they want to hurt me?”

“Maybe this was a visitor.”

Brenna laughed. “I'm sure you know Willow Scanlan is the oldest and most powerful faerie in Mourne. It's not likely some renegade faeries are running wild without her knowledge. She'd have asked for our help to send them to eternal damnation. If it was faerie magic that killed Garth, Willow would have claimed vengeance.”

“But something unusual is happening here,” Jake said.

“It's all tied to the Woman in White.”

“And perhaps it is more than Willow Scanlan and Sarah can—” He stopped, shook his head and held up his phone, which was buzzing again. “This is the office. They were going to try to give me the morning off if there were no new incidents, so there must be something bad.”

Faintly Brenna heard Jake's terse conversation. Before the phone rang, he was about to voice her own fears. What if magical leaders in the area were losing their powers? Brenna was concerned last night when Sarah's sleeping spell wore off after only a few hours. That was unlike Sarah. It was also unlike Aunt Frances to allow a killer plant to grow in her garden.

The Connellys had kept the peace among all creatures in this region for centuries. If Sarah was no longer strong enough to hold off evil, if their coven was weak…

Brenna bit her lip. Her own absence these past three years may have caused the current crisis. Like a family, a coven was a delicate balance. It wasn't that every Connelly witch had to stay here. There were Connelly witches in many places who could trace their ancestry to the original family who came from Ireland in the 1700s, but the central trunk of the family tree, where the most power dwelled, remained in Mourne County. That same trunk always bore the sacrifice to the Woman in White.

“And I deserted them,” Brenna muttered to herself. “Shame on me.”

“What did you say?”

Brenna looked up to find Jake off the phone.

“I was just thinking out loud about the balance of power in our little county.”

He grunted as he stuffed his phone in his pocket. “Speaking of power, there's been an incident at Fred Williams's church.”

“Is anyone hurt?”

“Some minor vandalism, but he's demanding me on scene.”

“I've never liked that man.”

“Garth didn't trust him, but he kept him mollified somehow. I need to do the same.” Jake shrugged into his uniform shirt and sat down on the recliner next to the bed to put on his shoes. “So I need to get over there and check this out. I hope it's not related to what happened here yesterday.”

“It's all related.” Brenna was silent as she watched Jake gather his notebook and other belongings.

An unsettling, uncertain awareness stretched between them as he backed toward the door.

“Stay in the house.” His tone was gruff.

Brenna bristled at the instruction. “No, thank you. I will not be staying in this or any other house. And you staying with me last night doesn't give you the right to say that.”

“Okay, okay.” Jake held up his hands in surrender. “Just be careful, witch. Use your magic to guard yourself.”

“That I can do,” she agreed. “Watch yourself, too.”

The air sizzled around them, alive with a connection that puzzled Brenna. What was happening between her and this shifter? She didn't have time for this kind of entanglement now, even if she wanted to kiss him goodbye right now.

“I'll call you later,” he said, saving her from her impulse.

When he opened the door, Lauren fell into his arms, caught in the act of eavesdropping.

The voluptuous witch laughed as her arms circled Jake's waist. “I was just about to knock.”

Jake set her away from him. “I'm glad you're here, Lauren, because I have to run. Take care of your cousin.” He directed a devilish grin at Brenna before he left.

Lauren looked at Brenna. “You look fine to me. Do you need looking after?”

“I feel sore and achy, but that's about it.”

“You got yourself in a bit of a squeeze, no pun intended.” Lauren chuckled. The wicked humor was as predictable as her throwing herself at Jake. Lauren never changed. “Jake was really frightened,” she added.

“Imagine how I felt,” Brenna said ruefully. A sudden memory tugged at her as she studied her cousin. “I saw you yesterday. You were standing near the butterfly garden. I was hoping you would help me.”