Page 22 of April's Fool (Northarbor Coven Book 2)

Heatwave

Amorandes

Unable to help myself, I darted forward and wrapped my arms around Damon. Without even thinking about it, my wings burst free, thankfully not ruining my suit, my magic created space for them. They wrapped around him, cocooning in my protection.

“Are you alright, my love?” The words just slipped out so naturally. I was in love with Damon. Had been in love with him for a while. Now was not the time to admit that, though.

“There’s a lot to discuss, but we need to get Cody and Toth out of the castle.” Damon relaxed into me, his arms around my waist.

I went rigid with fear. “Is he in danger?”

Damon stepped back to meet my eyes. He pushed at my wings so he could see me. “Jorgoth is under contract to Basil. I’m sure of it. I’m not sure why he came for me rather than Cody—“

“He’s a prince.” I stepped back, forcibly pushing my wings away, returning them to their place inside me. They almost had a mind of their own, wanting to keep Damon tucked up and safe. Subconsciously, I believed it was my duty to care for my human lover, yet he was more dangerous than me. I touched the crown on my horn. “This doesn’t just protect us from witch contracts. It prevents a witch or demon from attacking us physically, but only in our realm,“ I stressed my point. “Royals have limited protection here, in the human realm, our magic forms a basic shield. Getting around the protection it provides is incredibly difficult. I’ve never known a witch to hunt us like this.”

“So Jorgoth can’t just go and take him or Toth out? He can’t take them to Basil?”

“Not unless they went willingly.”

“Like if Basil had me?”

Realization dawned. “Basil could use you to get Cody. He’s powerful enough to control you, to force you to harm him unless he’s figured out a way to do it himself. He’s certainly powerful enough.”

“I would never harm Cody!” Damon spat. Though his anger wasn’t for me, I still flinched. Thankfully, Damon missed the movement, too caught up in his fury for the witch that had hunted him for months.

“You wouldn’t have a choice. Do you really think that a man so crazed he sent a hitman after a hitman wouldn’t use the dark arts? He wants Cody gone. I don’t know why.”

“I do,” Thyme said as he walked in the doors of Heatwave, Oak, and two new witches by his side.

Beside me, Damon stiffened. His fear around witches made sense after some things he had told me about his past. My last words about being controlled wouldn’t have helped, either. Damon needed a way to be safe from their magic. Perhaps I could ask the shifters if the elves had any suggestions. Their magic was different. They might know something.

In unison, Damon and I moved closer to each other. We clasped hands, each giving a squeeze that said, “I’m here. I’m with you.” Having someone to protect made Damon feel stronger, so I was willing to be that for him even when I was perfectly safe from the witches.

“Why is he so obsessed with Cody? What does having a hit on me achieve? None of this has made sense from the start.” Damon glowered at the witches as if they were agents for Basil, which, after our last encounter, some of them could be.

“What is Cody? He’s the first—“

By the magic! “That we know of. Just because no other witch-demon hybrid has been documented, doesn’t mean one hasn’t existed.” I recalled my visits to the archives. There was no information on such a mix in a child. We knew nothing about their powers .

Thyme inclined his head. “True. Basil doesn’t care about that. He sees a witch that has demon powers and abilities. Imagine, like he probably has, a witch with a great well of power who can replenish that well quickly by feeding off emotions such as lust. How powerful would such a being be?” Thyme looked directly at me. “Your son is a threat to Basil retaking the coven because Basil believes he is the only person that could stand in his way.”

Damon shifted closer to me. “Cody wouldn’t want that. He just wants to live a peaceful life with Toth.”

“Do you really think Cody would stand aside and let the coven, let Poppy, be harmed because of a madman?” Oak spoke for the first time. “We all know he wouldn’t. He would be the first in line to do something about it.”

“He’d have help.” I’d forgotten the shifters were there. Alpha Blake joined the witches, greeting them all in turn. He was painfully polite to the new witches, clearly distrusting them, yet he was warm and welcoming to Thyme. Was there something his wolf could sense that I was missing?

“So what was the hit on me for?” Damon’s face was set in a frown. I squeezed his hand once again. I hated Basil for treating Damon as a pawn in his games almost as much as I hated him for targeting my innocent son. Cody didn’t deserve this .

“A warning? A distraction? Bait? Getting Cody out into the open? Who knows?” Thyme gave a shrug. “You’re trying to rationalize the behavior of an irrational man. Basil does whatever the fuck he wants and it’s down to us to stop him.” The fire in his eyes was blazing. I wasn’t alone in my hate.

“So, what do we do?” I asked.

This conversation, the entire situation, made me wish for Gregoris to be by my side. Keren was a poor substitute. He hadn’t moved from his position near the bar. Once Cody was here, I was sending him home, if not sooner. I was sick of his face. It was his fault Damon had been in danger!

“We get you two, then Cody and Toth, somewhere safe. Then we put as many protections on you as we can while we continue our hunt.” Oak cast an eye around Heatwave. “This place yours?” he asked Blake.

“As of now, it’s Mori’s.” Blake smiled at me. “You know, this would be a great place for you to stay while the renovations are ongoing. There are apartments out back. Between the witches and the elves, I’m sure we could have plenty of protections put on the place.”

“Could the sale be put under a different name? To hide that it’s yours until after it opens?” Damon looked thoughtful.

I shrugged, unsure. My tour of the place had shown an apartment with two bedrooms. Hardly ideal since it would be cramped with four of us. We’d just have to make it work.

“We need to get Cody and Toth here. Could Parker work his tech magic to hide the sale?” As much as I would have liked to keep this from Parker and Gregoris, they were our family. They needed to know.

“Yeah, I’ll call him now while the witches look at what needs to be done. You okay to call Cody?” Damon asked with a final squeeze of my hand before breaking away to make his call.

“Hey,” I called. Damon turned back. “Together, we’ll protect Cody.” I pulled him into my arms and brushed a kiss on his mouth. “I’ll protect you.”

A smirk stretched over his face. “No, I’ll protect you.”

“We’ll protect each other.”

“Deal.”

With one last kiss, we broke apart to make the calls we needed. Telling my son about Basil was going to break my heart. I didn’t want to be the one to take away his feeling of safety.

“Dad? Is everything okay? I’ve been trying to call Damon, but his phone was going to voicemail.” My poor boy had been worrying.

“Cody, I need you and Toth to pack as many things as you can and come straight here. Don’t talk to anyone. Just come here so we can explain. ”

“You’re scaring me. Is Damon okay?” I wanted to cry at the fear in his voice.

“Damon is fine. Jorgoth came for him. He’s contracted to Basil.”

“Fuck! Okay. Where are you? We’ll have to bring Hela. That won’t be a problem, will it?”

“No, it’ll be fine.” Hela, Toth’s hellcat pet, was adorable. Though she had initially kept her distance from us, she had soon warmed up. She had completely vanished since Keren became my guard, only turning up for meals. Cody had reassured me she was fine, keeping to their rooms rather than wandering the castle as she had been before. With another assurance Damon was okay, I gave him the address and ended my call.

No sooner was I off the call, than it rang again. Mama. Fuck.

“Hey Mama—“

“Amorandes.” Threat lined my name. “You and my grandson are in danger. Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Of course,” I lied. “Just as soon as I got Cody here, I was going to ask you and Dad to head home.”

“Head home! Why? We can help!”

The magic bless her. My mom loved so fiercely.

“No, Mama. As much as I love you, I can’t have you in danger. This man will use anyone against Cody. Don’t you think coming here would create another weakness for him?” I heard her sniff. “If Basil got you, he would have me, Cody and Dad all out searching for you, making us vulnerable. The best thing you can do right now is go home and order Keren to return.”

“Keren? Why?” Mama had calmed some, obviously seeing reason in my explanation. My mother was overbearing at times, only out of love. She wasn’t unreasonable and did listen.

“He told me to leave Damon in the hotel, Mama, rather than risk being late. Even when he had more than enough time for us to make the meeting. Worse still, the auction wouldn’t have started without me!”

“So? Damon would have been fine at the hotel.”

“Mama, a demon tried to kidnap him! Jorgoth is contracted to a witch. The same witch that’s trying to hurt Cody.”

“I see.” Mama’s voice had taken on a razor sharpness. “Put Keren on the phone.”

My gaze caught on the bodyguard. During my call, he had wandered closer. I held the phone out silently. He took it like I was handing him a grenade.

“Hello?” They held a brief conversation. “Understood.” Keren held out my phone. “I’ll take my leave, Prince Amorandes. My apologies to the human. I let personal biases cloud my judgment. A replacement will be found shortly. ”

Keren didn’t even wait to hear my response. Didn’t say anything to Damon or anyone else. He just left the club, presumably to portal home.

The next few hours were filled with anxiety as we waited for Cody and Toth to arrive while the witches and a few elves worked on numerous spells to ward the property. They focused on the apartment initially, ensuring we would be safe while we slept. Damon had Parker overnight some security devices.

“You always forget about human means. Basil isn’t above paying some random human to come in here,” he chided.

He was right. We had to make sure human security measures, as well as all the supernatural ones, covered the entire club. We could afford the extra expense, especially with lives at stake.

As soon as Cody was in sight, I rushed to get my arms around him. I hugged him fiercely before turning to Toth. Refusing to listen to his grumbling, I hugged my other son just as tightly. Hela made a chirping noise at me, but ran to Damon for pets. The shifters didn’t react to her presence, having met her, but the elves made a few noises of pleasure. The cat was going to be spoiled.

“This is not your fault,” I whispered in Toth’s ear.

It was there, barely perceptible, but Toth relaxed a fraction. He truly had believed it was his fault. “Thank you,” he muttered. “I just don’t remember telling him anyone’s names.”

“He probably made you forget. I’ve told you this over and over. Jorgoth won’t blame you,” Cody said reasonably, like he hadn’t just been forced out of his home thanks to the witch.

“Where is Jorgoth?” Barr asked. Honestly, I’d forgotten the hellhound was there. He had stayed silent the entire time, just watching us all pace the club making calls. To start with, he had followed the witches with his eyes until some elves had turned up. The elves were just as fascinated with him as most hadn’t seen a hellhound before.

“He’s been arrested. That’s why we took so long to arrive. I reported him to the guards, so when he got back to his home, they picked him up,” Toth said. Jorgoth lived in a house in the castle lands. Far too close to Cody. “He’ll be kept in the cells until he can either be claimed, mated, or Basil is dead.”

A trickle of sympathy worked its way through me for the poor demon. The cells were comfortable. It wasn’t his fault he’d ended up with a witch master after all. This was just a precaution. The magics around the cells would stop Basil calling Jorgoth to him.

“Come on,” I urged. “Let’s get us all settled in.”