Sigils and spells, p.31
Sigils & Spells, page 31
Jared had immediately sent his enforcers to search for a new territory, but the search had lasted for years.
There just wasn’t that much open space left in the world anymore and what was out there was often unavailable for private purchase.
That this town in the middle of Kansas had so few non-paranormal residents and so much empty territory in every direction was as unexpected as it was welcome.
Even so, it had been a traumatic move for everyone involved.
When their entire lives had been spent on the ancestral lands of their people, and their identity was wrapped up in those lands, leaving them was difficult at best.
“It’s weird,” Corwin said. “I’d just about given up on Kansas. So much open land, but very little of it perfect for our needs. I was actually heading home when I had this urge to go south instead. An hour later, I drove into town and felt as if I’d finally found the place for us. Woods to the south, prairies to the east, and an almost deserted downtown. So much property available for purchase.”
“And the rest is history.” Jared grinned. “We’re just lucky we found the town before the vampires and that other pack.”
Corwin scowled. “A lot of good that did us.”
Jared chuckled. “You’re not still holding a grudge against that witch, are you? What’s her name again?”
“Natalie,” Corwin muttered. “If she hadn’t spoken up, there wouldn’t have been any land for the vampires or the other pack to purchase because we’d have it all.”
“The territory you did manage to buy is larger than all of our ancestral lands put together, even the parts we’ve lost over the years, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“Except now we have to share borders with a bunch of witches, vampires and another pack.”
“Speaking of the other pack, do we know anything about them? I don’t think I’ve met any of them before.”
“I’m sure they mentioned the name of their pack.” Corwin paused for a moment, then shrugged. “I can’t quite remember what it was, though.”
“Well, find out, will you?” Jared led the way into the Zero Diner, his stomach rumbling at the smells permeating the space.
“No time like the present, right?” Corwin nodded toward a table at the back where some of the wolves in question were having lunch.
“Perfect,” Jared said.
A few moments later, they were seated with the wolves, laughing and chatting like they’d been friends for years.
Jared was certain they’d planned to ask the wolves something, but he’d completely forgotten whatever it was.
No matter though.
It must not have been that important.
*.*.*.*.*
Pippa was hiding out.
She’d been planning to go into town to scope out the newest residents and possibly choose her next bedmate, but then Jo had gone and ruined everything.
So instead of joining the coven as they ventured into town, Pippa had retreated here, beneath one of the weeping willows that ran along the stream at the back of their property.
Considering how she was feeling at the moment, the closer she stayed to water, the better.
The problem was she saw no end in sight to this completely unbearable situation.
All those eligible men wandering around town and Pippa couldn’t risk getting to know a single one of them.
All she’d wanted was someone to shake the sheets with. Instead, she faced the very real threat of finding her mate.
At least only Jo was idiotic enough to make that particular casting.
Maybe they’d get lucky and her magic would only manage to snag one mate—her own.
Unfortunately, Pippa had never been that lucky, not even once in her life. Instead, she seemed to specialize in bad luck.
Case in point: her hormones were in complete turmoil, demanding she take action now, while the magic in her well boiled toward the surface, closer and closer to an explosion.
Worse still was knowing she now had to avoid all the eligible men in town, meaning there was no relief in sight.
Her frustration was so high, her magic was practically sizzling across the surface of her skin.
Pippa closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.
It didn’t work.
Her fingers tingled with the need to release some magic and she glanced around frantically, wondering what she could safely set on fire.
Not the willow trees.
Not the grass.
Would the stream burn if she ignited it?
“Meow.”
Pippa froze in shock as a small kitten rubbed its face against her knee, then climbed into her lap, stretched out and promptly fell asleep.
“What? Where’d you come from?”
The only answer was a loud rumble.
“Are you—are you purring?”
She leaned over and peered into the kitten’s face.
The rumbling got louder.
It was purring.
Unbelievable.
Pippa glanced around, but of course, there was no one nearby and now she was trapped with a sleeping kitten in her lap, unable to move until it decided to wake up.
She let out a sigh of exasperation. “The least you could do was wait until I got comfortable too,” she informed the kitten. “After all, it’d be nice to take a nap with you.”
Maybe if she—
Pippa inched slowly to the right, freezing every couple seconds when the kitten seemed about to wake.
Finally, Pippa had managed to turn her body enough that she was no longer leaning against the trunk of the tree.
She then began the arduous task of straightening her legs without dislodging the kitten stretched across them.
That was an extremely lengthy endeavor because it involved slowly shifting the kitten as well until the kitten was stretched out lengthwise along Pippa’s legs.
She waited a moment to make sure the kitten wasn’t going to wake up, then slowly began to lower herself to the ground.
When the kitten let out a rumble of discontent at the movement, Pippa froze, halfway between sitting and lying down, holding her breath as the kitten shifted and stretched, all without opening its eyes, before finally falling quiet again.
With a sigh of relief, Pippa continued her slow descent until she lay flat on the ground.
She then closed her eyes and fell into a light doze as she pondered her well and the fact that it had fallen silent and the sizzle and burn that had scraped at her skin had mostly dissipated.
Endless, lazy moments later, she woke to the raspy feel of a kitten’s tongue scraping across her left eyelid.
“Ew!” She giggled, rubbing at her eye and scooping the kitten into her arms.
“Thank goodness my eyes were closed. I don’t think that would have felt great on my eyeball.”
She could have sworn the kitten smirked back at her, which was just disturbing.
“So where’d you come from anyway? Do you have a name?”
No answer, of course.
“Hmmm. Well, for now I think I’m going to call you Hocus Purrcus in honor of your ridiculously loud purr.” Cradling the kitten against her chest, she climbed to her feet.
“Let’s go see if anyone’s missing a kitten, shall we?”
*.*.*.*.*
“You’re a genius, Bygul,” Soraya crowed.
“Well, that’s kind of you to say.” What he really meant was, of course, I am, but he didn’t like to brag.
Still, it was nice to know the other cats recognized his talents.
“How did you know she would go to town if we gave her the kitten right then?” Soraya asked.
“Because all the other witches were already in town, so she couldn’t ask them,” Bygul said. “I did get a bad turn when she decided to take a nap instead of heading right out.”
“She’s lucky we were there,” Tivali said sourly. “The kitten could have run away if we hadn’t set up that shield to keep him inside it.”
“Eh, the kitten knows a good deal when he sees one,” Muezza said. “He didn’t even try to run away. He just stayed right beside his human the entire time.”
“Yes, but she didn’t know that, now did she?” Tivali scowled.
Bygul knew it was because she worried so much about the earthbound cats and the dangers that surrounded them there, but there was only so much they could do for the cats they matched to human companions.
At the end of the day, they had to let them all, humans and cats alike, live their lives and hope for the best.
“Well, I for one, am super impressed,” Soraya said. “Hopefully Pippa will meet some humans in town and we can start narrowing down mate choices for her as well.”
“I doubt it will be that easy,” Tivali said. “She seems like a difficult woman.”
Soraya huffed. “You’re just annoyed because you don’t think she’s protective enough of the kitten.”
“She’s not,” Tivali snapped. “Plus, she didn’t even cuddle him that much and she never kissed him, not even once. What kind of monster could resist that cute little face?”
“Oh, please,” Muezza muttered.
“I’m serious, Muezza. This match is beneath us. We should have chosen a different witch, or even better, one of the humans in town.”
“No way,” Soraya exclaimed. “K.C. will never let us live it down if we fail to match these witches.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Tivali sighed.”But I want it understood that I’m participating under protest.”
“So noted,” Bygul said dryly. “I’m sure K.C. was exaggerating about how difficult witches are to match, so let’s just get started, shall we?”
Actually, Bygul was pretty certain K.C. had understated the case when it came to these specific witches, but he wasn’t going to mention that to the others.
Had to keep their spirits up and all that.
Even if the matches were doomed.
*.*.*.*.*
Darren, the wolf seated across from Jared, lit up when the diner’s door opened.
Jared glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.
The woman standing in the doorway was quite the sight.
Gorgeous, sexy as hell, and clearly there for the lucky wolf now standing and striding across the diner toward her.
“Damn,” Corwin muttered at his side. “Who’s that?”
“That’s Lucky,” one of the other wolves said. “She’s Darren’s mate.”
“Talk about lucky,” Corwin muttered.
Jared had to agree.
Lucky was dressed entirely in green, sporting a tiny, flared skirt and spiked boots that between the two showcased an amazing amount of skin. She wore a tiny tank top that bared her midriff and shoulders and left little to the imagination.
She had a headful of bright red hair that sprang around her in a halo of curls and begged a man to run his fingers through them.
“I’m in love,” Corwin sighed.
“Don’t let Darren hear you say that,” a wolf named Bruno said. “He’ll rip off your head before you even manage to introduce yourself.”
Corwin grinned. “Understood.”
At that moment, the door behind Darren, who was busy kissing Lucky, opened again.
This time, a number of women traipsed in.
“Great,” Corwin muttered, glaring at the woman in the lead. “I just lost my appetite.”
Jared grinned. These must be the witches, led by the infamous Natalie. “Well, since you’ve already eaten half a cow, I don’t see how it’s that big of a loss.”
“Hey, I’ll have you know I had room for the rest of that cow until she walked in.”
*.*.*.*.*
It wasn’t until Pippa was pulling into the diner’s parking lot that she remembered she was supposed to be avoiding the eligible men in town.
Damnit.
“I should have had one of the others bring you into town,” she said to Hocus Purrcus.
She debated just leaving, but she’d already committed so much energy to this task, she hated to give up now.
She’d started her venture into town at the vet’s office, assuming they would be able to tell her whether the kitten belonged to anyone, and could also check the kitten’s health and give it any necessary vaccinations at the same time.
Unfortunately, there had been a sign on the door stating the vet was at the diner having lunch.
So here Pippa was, about to enter the only restaurant in town, which meant it was probably full of all the eligible men she’d been trying to avoid.
“It can’t be that bad, right? After all, what are the chances my fated mate is inside this diner at this very moment? I’d say it’s highly unlikely, wouldn’t you?” She glanced down at H.P., who was rolling around in the seat next to her, playing with nothing obvious while ignoring her.
She sighed. “I guess we should go ahead and get it over with.” She scooped the kitten into her arms and headed for the door of the diner. “Look, there’s Morana’s truck. That’s a good sign, don’t you think? Maybe the whole lot of them are inside and we can swoop in and out so quickly, no one else will even notice we’re there.”
The kitten was too busy batting at the ties on her hoodie to bother replying.
Pippa pulled open the door to the diner, stepped inside and was halfway across the room, heading for the table where her coven was seated, when all hell broke loose.
*.*.*.*.*
Darren’s mate, Lucky, had just finished explaining to Jared and Corwin that she was not just a fairy, thank you very much—her pointed ears have given the fairy part away—but a leprechaun fairy, if you please.
She’d then gone into a mini lecture about how not all fairies were leprechauns, but all leprechauns were fairies, and therefore, it wasn’t acceptable to simply call her a fairy because that would be like calling an alpha wolf a mere canine.
Considering Jared had never met a fairy or a leprechaun before (and he was pretty certain by the look on Corwin’s face, that he hadn’t either) and until now hadn’t given a single thought to the possibility that they might be more than myth, Jared was rendered speechless.
He truly had no idea what to say in response.
Congratulations?
You’re my first leprechaun?
Will you marry me?
Definitely not that last one. She might be sexy as hell, but he could tell by the look on Darren’s face that the wolf would fight to the death to keep her.
At that moment, the door to the diner opened again and all the wolves around him sucked in a deep breath.
Jared turned once more to see what had everyone’s attention and the world around him faded away.
Lucky was gorgeous and oozed sexuality from her pores. It was the entire package, from her clothing to the way she walked to her wild and unruly hair.
This woman, on the other hand, was practically the opposite of Lucky, yet still somehow had the power to bring the entire diner, that was mostly filled with men, to a complete halt.
She was wearing a black hoodie over black leggings that were tucked into black motorcycle boots. She had a mass of black hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun and a black kitten in her arms.
She stalked across the room with purpose, and much like Lucky, oozed an innate sexuality that brought every unmated beast in the room to attention.
For a moment, Jared had the insane thought that she was heading for their table, but then he realized she was focused on the witches.
Of course.
She was halfway there when the cat in her arms went insane.
The kitten sprang upright from where it had been draped over her shoulder and let out a loud hiss.
It then launched from her shoulder and landed in the middle of a table where a couple wolves from Jared’s pack were seated.
It let out another hiss and launched from that table to theirs where it let out a yowl to frighten the dead.
It spun to face Corwin, let out a hiss and snarl, then spun back to hiss at Jared.
Jared grinned.
The cat knew when it was surrounded by predators.
“Aw, it’s okay, darlin’,” Matthew, one of Darren’s wolves crooned, scooping it into his arms.
The kitten immediately relaxed against Matthew’s chest and let out a deep rumbling purr.
Jared’s jaw dropped.
Seriously?
He glanced at Corwin, who just shrugged, looking equally perplexed.
“Is the kitten yours then?” The woman who had carried the kitten inside asked Matthew as she approached their table.
Jared stiffened as she came to a stop next to his chair and her scent swept over him.
“Nope.” Matthew sent her a grin. “I’m just really good at soothing wild creatures.” He winked, then added, “I’m Matthew.”
Jared scowled, fury sparking inside him at the blatant interest on Matthew’s face.
“Pippa.”
“So, Pippa. What brings you into Zero?” Matthew asked.
“I’m looking for the vet. I saw a sign saying he was here at the diner.”
“Pretty sure he just left,” Darren said.
“Damn,” Pippa leaned over and reclaimed the kitten from Matthew. “Gotta go. Thanks.” She whirled and raced out the door.
Jared shoved back his chair, tossed some bills on the table and followed her out, Corwin scrambling to follow him.
They arrived out front just in time to watch Pippa pull out of the diner’s parking lot and drive off.
“What’s up?” Corwin asked.
“I think she might be my mate.”
And she’d been completely oblivious to his presence, not even acknowledging him at all.
So rude!
CHAPTER 3
After an hour spent at the vet’s office, Pippa left with her kitten, secure in the knowledge that no one had called about a missing kitten.
Truthfully, she would have been surprised, considering there were no other properties near their own, which meant someone had probably dumped the poor thing.
“The kitten’s a boy,” the human vet, who had to be ninety if he was a day, had informed her. “You’ll need to get him fixed unless you want a lot of kittens running around come spring.”
