Wyatt“This is risky,” I said. I could feel Beau as he glanced around at the people who passed by taking in everything they were giving off. Bri however was a different animal. She didn’t give one fuck what anyone thought. I knew the look of the haze coming over her. Fuck this is why I didn’t want her out in the open. She rubbed her ass into Beau, her head falling back into his shoulder. Shit. Beau’s eyes met mine and I motioned him to the sparse woods to the side of the grocery. Whatever we did would have to be covert and quick. I felt eyes on us and cursed as we gilded her away from prying eyes but one set was sure to watch every detail. Kay, she hadn’t made an advance on Beau since Bri intercepted her. She’d been different since Bri made her humble. She was stalking us now and when Beau made to stop I pushed him further into the trees with her. Bri needed release and I sent them back without me and turned to face Kay.“What are you doing?” I asked her. She couldn’t find words.“Wh
Book 2Chapter 15 months later- JulyBriThe Louisiana sun shone too brightly as I opened my eyes. I could feel the hardness of the docks beneath the blanket under my back, a copy of Watership down in my hands, my head resting comfortably on what felt like Wyatt’s thick thigh as Beau's hand idly ran up and down my leg. I knew the feel of my men, the safety and security of their presence. I hummed contentedly. The cicadas were droning in the background and a Barred Owl called. I could hear the boys roughhousing far off. I set the book aside my hands trailing over my enormous stomach and I smiled, beaming with the tranquility of it all. I felt a kick against my palm and then another.Snatching up their hands I pulled them to the swell of my stomach two familiar sets of adoring eyes on handsome rugged faces met mine. “Ya know,” Wyatt said, his hand grazing my jaw as he tilted it in his direction, “I thought you were beautiful before, now all of this world’s beauty doesn’t compare to yo
Chapter 2ZoeyI’ll never forget pulling back up the drive to witness the window of Bri’s room as it exploded outwards, nor the sound of her heart-wrenching screams as it happened. I don’t even remember throwing the car in park as I bounded up the front steps and pushed my way through the front door. Andrew and Trent were pleading with her as they attempted to break down the door.“Bri!” I shouted flattening my palms against the wall, the Ioa were suddenly there. Two spirits placed their hands on my shoulders and I found my spirit pushed out of my body and into the ruins of Bri’s room.She’d gone silent curled in a fetal position on her side, eyes numbly staring off. I let my spirit curl around hers and I held her and whispered into her ear. “You are loved, you are not alone, don’t let this loss be for nothing ma ami, do as you promised then you can find a way out.” only to Bri that idea was unfathomable. She’d staggered to her feet eventually and much like this morning disappeared i
Chapter 3BriThe cold water bit at my flushed skin and the motion of the soap bar gliding over my flesh was robotic as I steeled myself for another day, another game to play with the North American Witches at my court. The first days of my rule had been ruled as a tyrant, in my grief I lost the image of my father’s dream. After a week we had located Beckham’s sister and I walked into that room with a flame of rage.When I saw her, the prone figure was seemingly lifeless on the bed. Machines and talismans and etchings of magic surrounded her thin form. She was young, like me her light brown skin suggested she wasn’t Beckham’s full-blooded sister. Her caretaker a Creole witch, had taken good care of her. Her hair was braided carefully and laid attentively over her shoulder. Studying the inscriptions on the floor I gingerly approached her and it was then my rage shifted down to a simmering boil. The heart monitor blipped in steady time until my foot hit the sigil. It spiked suddenly and
Chapter 4ZoeyBri walked out of the bathroom in a towel, no steam permeated from the room. I sighed it was another habit of hers that irked me, another seemingly insignificant way for her to keep them alive in her heart. I had learned a lot from those books and from Trent's description of the feel of that bond's presence but I couldn’t break it to her. The Ioa held me back it wasn’t just them though I didn’t want to tell her she didn’t have choices anymore.“Who is on today’s calendar?” She asked before downing a glass of room-temperature water and her morning dose of Advil. She was losing weight again. I shook my head pulling out the tablet before me “Priest Osbourne of the west district is on your breakfast agenda,” Brianna rolled her eyes. The idea of pretending to entertain nuptial proposals made her blood boil. She always put them for breakfast and had them turned down by lunch always using the rage she suppressed for the more sinister parts of her job after lunch and before d
Chapter 5BriI hated entertaining these imbeciles and this one had the audacity to bring his little fuck toy with him. Blatant disrespect. The thing was that these meetings helped me ferret out the good from the bad and while Osbourne wasn’t the type of bad I was worried about I could blackmail and alienate him with the knowledge that transpired here. He at least considered the human witches in his dominion rather than look down at them as many did. He just needed a lesson.“Priestess Le’Blanc, I am honored to be in your presence this morning and I hope we can come to an agreement that unites us as allies through matrimonial bonds.” He said with a bow.“A tall order so early in the day,” I said eyeing the woman who shrunk back a little behind Osboune’s shoulder. “And who is this?”“This is my assistant Miss Schmidt,” He announced.“And what exactly does Miss Schmidt do for you, Mr Osbourne,”“That’s Priest Osbourne,” the woman retorted. I didn’t give her a glance as I said.“No one i
Chapter 6WyattThe days turned into weeks and weeks into months. I walked through our life like a phantom not really living. I missed her. As I stared up at the moon nearly full, it was the one thing that I had that embodied her. Sitting on the porch Boo whined as she placed her head in my lap. The dog always seemed to know who needed her. She kept a constant rotation of sleeping in ours or the boys’ beds. I picked up the bottle of whiskey and took a swig trying to numb the constant ache in my chest. The stars seemed to wink at me overhead and all I could see is her face winking back at some banter she had stirred up.She had left us better off but every time I fed the chickens or ate from the food of her labors I found myself surrounded in her memory. Each day that I had once gladly woke to her beautiful face or the scent of her cooking was now replaced with the struggle to put one foot in front of the other. The boys solemnly managed to hike up their backpacks and head off to schoo
BeauI’d taken up the fighting the day she sent us away. I was angry and stupid, and I was still being stupid months later. Wyatt was right I’d let myself be delusional to think in the end she’d choose us. I hadn’t realized how strong that hope was until she barred us from ever seeking her out. I couldn’t stand being home, surrounded by everything that reminded me of her, so I stayed out late whenever Wyatt was home and when he wasn’t I was an ornery cuss of a person to be around. The boys started avoiding me and I didn’t blame them. Bri was the only one who saw into me, past the cocky beta shit I portrayed to everyone else. She never fell for it and I suppose that's what made me open my heart to her. She genuinely loved me as I did her and since saying goodbye I still felt tied to her, eternally linked and I didn’t know why. I should be a pro at severing ties at this point.Boo leaped up on the bed and laid her head on my chest I stroked the dog and she licked my face as the waxing m