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Chapter 33
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2022-04-19 14:01:33Related chapters
Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 34
Brady groaned and rolled over in bed to avoid the stream of sunlight smacking him in the face through the balcony doors. Smiling like an idiot at the rosemary scent clinging to his pillow and recalling the previous evening's events, he reached for Kaida. Except the sheets were cool. Frowning, he pried his eyes open and found a folded piece of paper on her side of the mattress.Stole one of your t-shirts. I'm downstairs.She'd put a smiley face at the end of her note, which was entirely too adorable. And it didn't make him grin. Much. He rose and relieved himself in the adjoining bathroom, then threw on a pair of sweats and his glasses to go in search of her.Best damn night of his life. Would've been the best morning of his life if she were still in his bed.The sound of muttering voices and the scent of coffee led him to the kitchen. He propped a shoulder against the frame, mostly out of sight, and grinned wider at finding Kaida on a stool by the island next to Riley, bare feet on
Last Updated : 2022-04-19Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 35
Once he finished a shower, he threw on a pair of gray slacks and a white button-down, then stared at the bed. Kept staring. The sheets were rumpled from their love-making, her scent lingered in the room, and recollection of their passion flooded him until suffocation loomed.All he wanted was more. More memories, more time together, more...everything. Interesting, because he'd never thought himself a sadist.The sisters had arrived by the time he'd made it back downstairs and were helping his brothers set out the food in the formal dining room. They hadn't dined in or used this space since their uncle had left the island nine years ago. Brady had almost forgotten what it looked like.Walnut wainscot paneling would've made the interior dim or moody if not for the elaborate chandelier over the massive ten-seater Palais Royale and the bay window facing the eastern side of the grounds. The space was still as ostentatious as he remembered. Monet on the walls, a Copenhagen china set too
Last Updated : 2022-04-19Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 36
Kaida, mouth agape, stared at the leather-bound journals Brady had placed on the table in the library. Wearing white gloves, he'd retrieved them from a high glass-encased shelf and had lined them in order. Fifty-two in all. Some bindings were cracked, the pages yellow with age. Others looked new and barely touched.Amazing. So was the room. While Brady had been busy, she'd strolled around, fighting a bookgasm. They had first editions of most of her favorite classics and newer titles. Volumes and volumes of fiction, non-fiction, encyclopedias... Heaven. And those were just the books. Vaulted ceiling with a mural of angels. A fireplace she and her sisters could walk inside. Intricate accent carvings and a bar in the corner.Heck, all she'd need was a bathroom and she could move in, never to see daylight again."Okay, we have two problems." Brady held up his gloved hands. "First, these are delicate. We're not going to be able to touch most of them without protection and the pages are b
Last Updated : 2022-04-19Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 37
If she were to dissect her choices, her experiences up to this point, she'd have to face the unsettling fact that she'd been directionless. Forget detours or destinations. All she'd been doing was putting one foot in front of the other. A blind work of autopilot and managing nothing more consequential than existing. "I have been in stasis," she numbly said, her voice hollow. Admitting such and realizing her life had been worth squat seemed a trivial insight, considering. It changed nothing and only shined a spotlight on the hulled-out person occupying space. "I don't belong anywhere. I've never had a...connection or bond to anyone or anything or anyplace." Actually, the few exceptions were encountering Brady in dreams, the instinct to study and teach Paganism, and boarding the ferry to Six Fates. Maybe she'd been looking at her destiny all wrong. It was entirely possible her life hadn't begun until two weeks ago."You always have a place here with us. You know that, right?""I do
Last Updated : 2022-04-19Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 38
"Any news about Captain Asshole?" Fiona tossed pizza crust on her plate and leaned back in her seat at the dining room table.Tristan grunted. "He left the hotel room late last night, but no one's seen him come back. It's possible he slipped past my watchdog. I might have his room searched despite the Do Not Disturb sign. We'll see."Brady rolled his head to stretch his neck, exhausted from the workout routine. He jogged two miles three times a week, but he wasn't accustomed to vigorous exercise. Not on this level, anyhow. They'd gone at it hard in their home gym with weights, equipment, and defensive techniques. Usually, Riley preferred swimming laps and Tristan did martial arts to keep in shape, yet they appeared just as sluggish as Brady. Stress, no doubt."He could be anywhere on the island." He frowned, concern and uncertainty making concrete of his muscles all over again. "What if he catches one of you off guard?""We can handle ourselves," Fiona assured. "Even taking magick
Last Updated : 2022-04-19Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 39
Finally, she looked away and resettled. "Fiona showed me a photo album earlier today. They kept tabs on me growing up. School pictures and stuff. There were some shots of me and my sisters when I was an infant before the adoption. Mara and my mother, too. I look like her," she added quietly.He cinched his arms tighter, unsure how to respond. Like her, he'd been pissed off at what they'd done to her and how easily they'd cast her aside. But the more intel he gained on the circumstances, the harder it was to dispute their intentions. The Venatores had been hunting her kind for centuries, and had they been aware of her existence, she might not be here today. She was the final link in this fated chain. Erase her, and it wiped out any chance for breaking it.Still, he couldn't imagine what it had been like for her growing up. Thinking she was unwanted. Unloved. A freak, as she'd claimed. He hadn't had the best upbringing, but he'd always had his brothers. No matter what, he could and wou
Last Updated : 2022-04-19Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 40
In the Meath library, Kaida closed the last journal and stared at it on the table. All week she'd been reading through the passages, and it had been harder than she'd anticipated. She'd attempted to look at them with a professional, objective eye, tried to distance herself from the human element and view them as research, but that was impossible.Her family's past and the Meaths were intertwined in ways that read like a darker, more horrid version of Grimm's Fairy Tales. From the first entry a week after Celeste Galloway's death to pivotal moments spanning three-hundred years, it was heart-breaking and gutting to receive first-hand accounts, especially considering the point-of-view. Righteous indignation. Bloodbaths. Hatred at its very core.If not for Brady erecting a pillar of strength, she probably wouldn't have been able to continue. He'd held her every night, soothed her tears, and never once showed the anger he had to have built inside over learning details about the entries.
Last Updated : 2022-04-19Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 41
Her pulse kicked rhythm. "The first four journals are from Minister Meath and were penned in quill ink. The succession goes on down your family tree. When a different member takes over the dagger, about every fifty years, the name gets entered at the beginning of the passage. There's dates to confirm, and I matched them to your line. Now, the newer ones use both sides of the paper and change to ballpoint, acclimating to modernization. The verbiage adapts for the times, too, as do descriptions. Yet there are a lot of similarities."He straightened and crossed his arms. "What are you getting at?""For starters, there's two Bible verses that are repeated throughout all the books. Coincidence? Probably. However, certain words like "heathen" and "sorcery" are frequented. Pretty outdated terms. So are specific insults. Could also be a coincidence.""But when you compare them with the handwriting, it adds up to more." He nodded, his gaze distant. "What's the connection?""I don't know. Ob
Last Updated : 2022-04-19
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Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 48: Epilogue
One month later...Sandwiched between Brady and Riley on the couch in her sisters' living room, Kaida stared at the family grimoire on the coffee table, Celeste's box next to it. Sitting across from them on the other sofa was Tristan, Ceara, and Fiona, also quietly contemplating. Mara had claimed a chair, her mood uncharacteristically solemn.They'd had a lovely dinner and had decided to finish their wine by the fire to pow-wow. Yet no one had said much, if anything.This had been a big day for Kaida. She'd installed her first entry into the grimoire. Well, technically, it was Celeste's passage, but it was Kaida who'd added the parchment. Turned out, after all the trials, the box had contained only two things. A sapphire ring and a scroll containing part of a spell."Do you think I should say it aloud?" She looked to her sisters for guidance. Ceara shook her head. "I believe Fiona and I need to do our part first. Something tells me this is a power of three spell. It'll only work
Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 47
Rising on his elbow, earning an oomph from Tristan under him, and pushing Riley over with a grunt, Brady lunged to his feet. Stumbling in his haste, he crawled the rest of the way and cupped her face. Her eyes were closed, lashes shadowing her cheeks. She was so still, so quiet, another sob ripped from his chest."Kaida?" Nothing. "Kaida, sweetheart. Please, God." A deep inhale expanded her chest, and her lids lifted. Her eyes darted everywhere at once before blessedly landing on him. "What happened?"He barked a laugh/moan combination, not believing what he was seeing.And for the thousandth time today, his lungs stalled. Relief flooded him in a harried whoosh. With shaking arms, he hauled her sideways onto his lap. Pressing her face into his shoulder, he held her so tight a spell couldn't wedge between them.He kissed the top of her head, rocking, rocking. "Don't you ever do that to me again." As it stood, he may not allow her to leave his sight until she was eighty. Or never.
Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 46
As the blade sank into Kaida's stomach, her face froze in a terrifying expression of shock and pain that yanked the heart right out of Brady's chest. But when his uncle withdrew the dagger, the oxygen punched from Brady's lungs with such force, he couldn't so much as cry out. A crimson ribbon flung through the air and splattered onto the grass. And Brady's whole world, his existence, shattered into a thousand fragmented pieces."Nooooo!" He frantically crawled over to her, roaring her name until his throat was as ravaged as his soul.He had the briefest concept of his uncle lunging to his feet and sprinting toward the hedge wall before Kaida collapsed in Brady's arms. Carefully as he could manage, he laid her on the grass and quickly untied the rope from her wrists. Angry red burns marred her perfect skin. A swift assessment showed a deep, open gash on her jaw and another above her eyebrow, both actively bleeding. But it was the hole in her stomach gushing uncontrollably that had
Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 45
Keeping the blade on Kaida, he moved to her side and stuck his finger in his mouth, scraping the crest ring off with his teeth. Gone was the short, neatly trimmed hair and slender body. In its place was a solidly built man with longish white strands that brushed his shoulders. He shoved the ring in his pocket. "What's it been, witch? Three-hundred years? Give or take."Breath whooshed from Kaida's lips. "It's you." The guy from the hotel room when she and Brady had astral-projected together. She'd assumed it had been a nightmare or the man had been another hunter after them. What the heck was going on? "You tried to strangle me."Satisfaction lit his bitter gaze. "Should've finished the job.""This isn't possible," Mara gasped, eyes bugging. "It's simply not possible."A quick scan of the other dazed expressions proved her sisters and the brothers were just as blown away as Kaida by Greg's transformation. Who the hell was this guy and how did he possess the power to shift? Far as s
Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 44
Slumped against the cottage near the meadow, legs sprawled in the grass in front of her, Kaida pried her eyes open for the second time. The stone exterior dug into her spine and a smarting jab in her ribs made breathing a chore, but she was alive. Somehow.One moment she was heading toward a vendor to fetch a bottle of water, the next she was being dragged between storefronts into an alley. A pinching prick in her neck had followed, and her world had gone black. She'd awoken in her current predicament.Whatever Greg Meath had injected into her was dulling her power. A sedative, no doubt. After taking stock, and confused out of her gourd, she'd slipped back into unconsciousness in order to project to Brady. Which had zapped what little strength remained. It had also required her to remove her pentagram necklace, leaving her unprotected from attack.And that was the other thing. Not that she was complaining, but why wasn't she dead? Greg had ample opportunity to kill her, including wh
Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 43
Ceara swiftly pulled a scroll off a cube shelf and unrolled it on the table to reveal a map of the island. She placed four white crystals on the corners and then dangled another blue crystal by a chain over the map.Kaida was missing, his mark was issuing a warning knell, and Ceara wanted to play with toys?"We have to go find her!" Impatience pounded his temples like a snare drum and he ground his teeth. Worry ate at his stomach lining. "She's in trouble.""That's what I'm doing. Give me a sec to do a locator spell." Ceara closed her eyes and chanted while Brady paced the checkered pattern off the linoleum. The crystal swung in a circle several times and stopped abruptly on the paper. "There. She's at our house. Somewhere on the western side of the property."Done. He pivoted for the doorway. Rigidity locked him in place.Kaida stood by the curtain, iridescent as a hologram. Rope banded her wrists. A gag was shoved in her mouth and tied around her head. Tears left trails on her d
Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 42
Alongside Fiona and Ceara, Brady strode through the darkened forest on the way to the sisters' house, his mind constantly banging the chaos button. According to Riley, Kaida had finished the journals and hadn't acted like herself when he'd taken her home. Which was freaking Brady out to the point of no return.An hour ago, Ceara had done her spell juju and put the passages Kaida had read directly into their brains. The sisters now knew more than the gist of what he and his brothers had gone through. Reliving some of those memories through his uncle's eyes had clicked a lot of pieces in place. The man had never loved them. He'd viewed them as nothing more than another part of the grand puzzle, and he'd done everything in his power to manipulate the picture.Again, Brady couldn't slap the label of abuse on the situation. Yes, he'd been whipped a time or two, had been sent to his quarters without a meal as punishment, and had been belittled to prove a fanatical point. But in Uncle Greg'
Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 41
Her pulse kicked rhythm. "The first four journals are from Minister Meath and were penned in quill ink. The succession goes on down your family tree. When a different member takes over the dagger, about every fifty years, the name gets entered at the beginning of the passage. There's dates to confirm, and I matched them to your line. Now, the newer ones use both sides of the paper and change to ballpoint, acclimating to modernization. The verbiage adapts for the times, too, as do descriptions. Yet there are a lot of similarities."He straightened and crossed his arms. "What are you getting at?""For starters, there's two Bible verses that are repeated throughout all the books. Coincidence? Probably. However, certain words like "heathen" and "sorcery" are frequented. Pretty outdated terms. So are specific insults. Could also be a coincidence.""But when you compare them with the handwriting, it adds up to more." He nodded, his gaze distant. "What's the connection?""I don't know. Ob
Fated Series: Bewitched Chapter 40
In the Meath library, Kaida closed the last journal and stared at it on the table. All week she'd been reading through the passages, and it had been harder than she'd anticipated. She'd attempted to look at them with a professional, objective eye, tried to distance herself from the human element and view them as research, but that was impossible.Her family's past and the Meaths were intertwined in ways that read like a darker, more horrid version of Grimm's Fairy Tales. From the first entry a week after Celeste Galloway's death to pivotal moments spanning three-hundred years, it was heart-breaking and gutting to receive first-hand accounts, especially considering the point-of-view. Righteous indignation. Bloodbaths. Hatred at its very core.If not for Brady erecting a pillar of strength, she probably wouldn't have been able to continue. He'd held her every night, soothed her tears, and never once showed the anger he had to have built inside over learning details about the entries.
