Eighteen Roman Eliot He didn’t tell Nora that he was worried. He didn’t want her to think that he was upset about her being a witch. And now that Glinda had confirmed that she wasn’t just a witch, she was something else, it made him worry. Worse, Glinda was the most powerful witch that he knew and she was sending him and his mate to a wizard. An off-brand warlock. Someone not born with magic, but who injected it into their blood. The magical equivalent of a drug dealer. But she had let him kiss her finally. And she was reading his thoughts. They were moving in the right direction. She trusted him, even though they barely knew each other. But everything inside of him was screaming that this was a bad idea. It had taken so long to get Nora and now there was someone trying to take her away from him again. “Are you okay?” Nora asked. He glanced over at her. “I’m fine. Why?” “Because,” said Nora, “we got to Mordred’s mansion ages ago, and it’s been almost ten minutes, and you
Nineteen Nora Connolly Stupid, was the first thought that rang through Nora’s mind. Roman had been right. She shouldn’t have gone into the evil wizard’s house. But she so desperately wanted to know what happened to her parents—and what happened to Winter---that she couldn’t not go inside. Her gut had told her that the answers were there. Of course, she’d been yanked inside by an invisible force, and the door was slammed shut. Nora started to pound against it. “Roman!” she called. “Roman!” “Don’t bother,” a cold voice said, “he won’t be able to hear you.” She turned slowly, and looked at the stranger that was speaking to her. He was a tall man, in his early fifties, with salt and pepper hair and a beard. “I wondered how long it would be before you found me, girl.” Nora stared at him. “I don’t know you.” “No,” the old man said, crossing his arms over his chest, “but you should. I’ve been trying to keep you away from that damn werewolf. I won’t have my granddaughter with a w
Twenty Roman Eliot Here is the thing about mates: half of it is magic, half of it is choice. The moon god wants something to happen and so it does. But sometimes, there are mates that even the gods themselves wouldn’t be stupid enough to interfere with. It’s as if the universe senses that if you came between them, they’d destroy the world for each other. So, you don’t mess with either one unless you want the world to end. That was Aion and his mate. When it had happened, it had caused such a stir that the pack had refused to let her in the building even. No matter what Roman’s father or Roman said. That’s because Aion’s mate wasn’t another werewolf, or even a witch. Aion’s mate was a vampire. Lucille West. She’d been around for a few centuries, and had a complicated relationship with monster hunters. That combined with the fact that she was a vampire made her an enemy in the world of Powerists. Lucille would sell you out and then save you in the same day. She was not to be
Twenty-oneNora Connolly Nora stared at Winters face, frozen in stone. “No,” Nora said firmly, with a shake of her head, “no. Why would you do this?” Mordred turned to look at her. “Because,” he replied, “she was trying to hurt you, Nora. She was never your friend. She was there to spy on you.” Nora’s face paled. “Do you know who her mate is?” Mordred raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been following you for quite some time. I wasn’t aware that the girl had a mate.” “Ares,” said Nora, “Ares, of pack Eliot is her mate. So whatever beef you have with werewolves having witches as mates it’s clearly not as uncommon as you think that it is.” Mordred shook his head. “The werewolves fear magic. They don’t like anything that might make them lose control. If they knew anything about witches, they’d know that magical law forbids using magic to take away someone’s will power.” “Magical law?” Nora asked. “When
Twenty-two:Roman Eliot “They should be back by now! It’s almost dawn,” Roman hissed. He was in the living room of his home, waiting with Aion and Ares. Aion sat by the window looking for Lucy and Nora. While Ares sat calmly in one of the chairs nearby, with a book in hand. “Will you relax?” Ares said. “It isn’t as if she’s some boring, human girl. She’s a witch. And she’s being rescued by a centuries old vampire who knows what she’s doing. She’ll be fine.” Roman glared at Ares. “I’m surprised you’re not more concerned. Your mate is missing too.” “I’m fairly certain my mate is a traitorous bitch, based on what Aion told me,” said Ares with a snarl, “she’s been spying on Nora from the sounds of it. I don’t appreciate liars.” “She’s made a mistake,” said Roman, “besides, “we don’t know that it was Winter who was responsible for that Scrying stone.” “We don’t not know that either. I’m not a trusting perso
Twenty-three: Nora Connolly She hadn’t been trapped for very long. But with all of Mordred’s talk about trying to marry her off, she didn’t like the idea of being left alone. She didn’t know who she could trust anymore. What she did know was that Roman was her mate. The future Alpha. And powerful enough to keep anyone at bay that might try and hurt her. That was what Nora needed. She had always run whenever she was in danger before. But for the first time in her life, there was someone to keep her safe. That was important. They managed to carry the statue of Winter into The Stellarum. When they finally got inside, to Roman’s room, the two stood there staring at each other. “Are you okay?” Roman asked. “I’m sorry. I never should have taken you there.” Nora sighed. “I’m fine. I just…you know for a second, when Mordred said that he was my grandfather, I thought maybe I could actually have a family again. But he showed his true colors quickly and I knew that there was no point
Twenty-fourRoman Eliot“What did you do to her?” Aion asked when Nora had left.Roman furrowed his brows together. “What are you talking about?”“I’m talking about Nora,” he said, “she looked very bothered about something. And by that, I mean hot and bothered.”Roman growled. “Never use the phrase ‘hot and bothered’ in reference to my Luna. Alright?”Aion chuckled. “Fine, only making an observation.”He smirked. “I didn’t do anything to her. Only, I let her make the choice about whether or not we were going to have sex. And then she got very flustered and left.”Aion smirked. “You’re evil.”He shrugged. “I’m only doing what a mature, responsible young man should do before having sexual relations. Asking for consent.”“You’re still evil,” Aion said.Roman then noticed bite marks on Aion’s neck. He raised an eyebrow. “Did Lucy stay? You know she’s always welcome here.”Aion rolled his eyes. “No, she’s not welcome here. The rest of the pack have made that very clear by the several times
Twenty-five Nora Connolly What was she doing? Why was she there? She shouldn’t have turned around. Only, if she were completely honest, she couldn’t remember her way back to her own room. Because all she had been able to think about was Roman. Roman, and how he was being an impossible gentleman, and how she didn’t want him to be anything but that. She wanted him to…. “Woah there!” she had run into something hard, and firm. Nora blushed, and looked up to see Aion standing in front of her. “Oh. Hi. Um, I was just….” “I know what you were just.” Aion chuckled. “It’s about time.” She sighed. “You know mates aren’t a normal gage for a relationship timeline. Most people---” “Have fun.” Aion brushed passed her. And when he was gone, Nora was left to stand by the door. After a moment, she raised her fist to knock on the door. But before she even could, the door had opened, and there was Roman. He looked at her hungrily. “I could hear your heartbeat down the hall.” Nora blushe
Forty-six:Roman Eliot "Just, for the record, I hate high heels," Nora told him, "And don't get used to me going to fancy events." Roman smirked at her. "This is for your cousin." "I know." She smiled a little. "Are you comfortable with this?" "I should be asking you that. Your family were the ones that were originally in charge of this coven. You're the one that's giving up something." "I'm fine," Nora said, "I've still got my magic. I've got you. Winter's going to make a great High Priestess. We just need to work together to make sure that Merrick doesn't come back and try to take over again." "You don't feel like running?" Roman asked. It had been a little over a month since they had managed to make Merrick disappear. He hadn't heard from Glinda, but he suspected that she was doing everything she could to try to save him from himself. That was what you did when you were in love with someone. It was
Forty-five:Nora Connolly Nora didn’t listen well. When you spent your time fending for yourself, listening to what others wanted was usually the last thing on your mind. Roman dressed hurriedly and was running down the stairs. Nora, who was becoming more comfortable with her magic, snapped her fingers and was dressed within seconds. She ran down the stairs with him. “Nora!” someone was screaming her name. It took her a second to register that it was Winter. And that was only because she saw her being levitated up in the air against her will. “Traitor!” this was shouted by Merrick. He was dressed all in black, his long coat swirling around him as wind filled the house, rattling it to its core. “Did you really think you could steal my power?” “Merrick!” a voice from behind him called. Nora turned and was startled to see Glinda standing there, a look of desperation in her eyes. “Merrick, stop this. This is not your destiny!” Me
Forty-fourRoman Eliot Potions took a long time to make. Which meant that there was at least two days for them to wait as it simmered. No one knew they were there yet so it was time to take an opportunity for them to lay low and figure out a plan. It also gave Roman a chance to connect with Nora again. “Are you still feeling good about this?” Roman asked. The two of them had found one of the rooms, and were staying in there. There were even some old clothes that they’d changed into. “Yes,” said Nora, “I think making Winter the High Priestess makes a lot of sense. She knows The Coven. I don’t. And I think…I think it will give her and Ares a chance to work through some things.” He smiled at her. “It’s nice to see you understanding how important mates are now.” She smiled back. “Well, it helps that I’ve got a pretty great one that comes calling whenever I’m in trouble.” The two of them had crawled into bed. The room they were in
Forty-threeNora Connolly She was going to help Winter take back The Night Coven. There was still a lot about magic that she didn’t understand. But she liked the idea of helping her cousin get what was rightfully hers. The Night Coven wasn’t her world. She’d stumbled into it by accident. Even though her family had been part of it, they had run from it. And she had to think that there was a reason for that. Still, she would do whatever it took to help get it back from Merrick. Nora stood in front of the grimoire, staring at it. It was an old book. With pages that had been weathered from time. The name Connolly was emblazoned on it in silver, with stars that surrounded it. She reached her hand out and let it hover over the top of it. “Are you okay?” Roman asked. Nora bit her lip. “I’m fine.” He was holding her right hand, and stroked it lightly. “You don’t sound fine.” “After everything that happened with my parents
Forty-twoRoman Eliot Roman stared. He knew ghosts existed but he had never seen one up close. Werewolves were more about keeping magic in line. Less about using it. Although since he was part warlock, he wasn’t entirely sure now if that were the case. What did a werewolf with magic do? More importantly, could a coven and a pack exist together? The idea of humans knowing about the Powerists was that it should have made life easier for people. Not bring more conflict to them. “Is that even possible?” Roman asked. “Witches and werewolves working together? I always thought we were supposed to keep them in line.” The old woman shook her head. “The idea was, when we revealed ourselves to the humans, that there was safety in numbers. If we could help each other, then there was less chance that they would try and hurt us. And by presenting a united front, together we could actually make progress happened. A lot of this stemmed from your mom, Roman. Elaine
Forty-one:Nora Connolly “I’m sorry, you want to what?” Winter looked at her completely baffled. “Swap my powers with you.” Winter tilted her head to the side. “You don’t want magic?” Nora shrugged. “What am I going to do with it? I mean, I barely know how to use it and I’m a werewolf’s mate. There’s no reason for me to have magic.” She was surprised when Winter looked at her with rage. “You have no idea what you’re talking about!” Nora raised an eyebrow. “I figured this would make you happy. I don’t want to be with Merrick, you don’t want to be with Ares. I’ll give you my power. This fixes everything.” She shook her head. “No. That power was given to you for a reason, Nora. You can’t just give it up. I know that you don’t want to be with Merrick, but being with the High Priest is an honorable thing. The Goddess wants you to work with Merrick to help the world.” “Then why was I mated to Rom
Forty:Roman Eliot Even though Roman was a werewolf, magic was something that he had never truly understood. Werewolves were about nature and instinct. Some aspects of their life were magic---like Endymion, the god of the moon that gave them their powers. But using magic itself wasn’t something that Roman had any clue about. That was why he went to Glinda. She was the one that could find lost things, or make a potion to cure a common cold, or enchant someone who was annoying him to get turned into a garden gnome or something else equally annoying. What he didn’t realize was how much weirdness went into it. At the moment, he was sitting in an empty room of The Stellarum. His mom was currently lighting candles, and smudging the room and there was some kind of circle of herbs around him like he was a chicken about to be cooked. After she had explained that Roman was part warlock, and related to The Night Coven, he had been dragged to the empty room by her. Then, t
Thirty-nine:Nora Connolly Nora didn’t know what she expected when she was at her grandmother’s house. Especially considering that she hadn’t known that there was a family home to begin with. Her memories of being a kid involved moving from city to city whenever something went wrong in her parent’s life. Although now that she thought of it, she couldn’t remember what it was that had gone wrong. “Ready to go in?” Winter asked. “This place has been vacant for years, and it only opens with blood magic from a direct descendant.” She looked up at the house again. It towered over them, a large, Victorian thing that was pink and black with rainbow glass windows. She didn’t think she would ever be ready when it came to facing her past. But there was no point in running from it. She was standing right in front of it. Even as she stood there, the houses magic made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Come in, come in, it seemed to whispe
Thirty-eight:Roman Eliot He tried to remember what he knew of his mom’s past. He knew that when she first found out she was his dad’s mate, she hadn’t bene happy about it. She’d been in love with someone else. He also knew that she came from some place in upstate New York and that her family hadn’t approved of the whole thing which was why they hadn’t seen them in ages. He knew his mother. But at the same time, he realized, he didn’t know his mother. He knew Elaine Eliot, the pack Luna. He couldn’t say anything about Elaine Eliot, the girl, or Elaine Eliot, the young woman. She had always been this fearsome force that he knew better than to make angry. “Are you going to knock?” Aion asked. He turned to glare at his friend. “Yes, I’m going to knock.” “Okay, because you haven’t done it. And you know that she’s the one that has the clue to finding Nora. Do you not want to find her?” “Of course, I want to find her!” he snarled.