Page 29 of April's Fool (Northarbor Coven Book 2)

Wicked Witch

Amorandes

It gave me immense pleasure to be the one making my lover pass out after amazing sex. I don’t know what it was about Damon in particular. Maybe it was our fledgling soul bond, but no one had ever matched me as well as he did. Over my lifetime, I’d had countless lovers. Damon made them pale in comparison.

For a while I let Damon sleep, just enjoying the peace I got from being next to him. His pleasure fed me much more than a meal would, yet I was aware that Damon would need to eat soon. Using his magic would burn through his energy reserves, and I didn’t want him to lose any weight. He was perfect as he was, compact muscles, lean limbs, not an inch of body fat. My lover was gorgeous.

Before I could get turned on again, and delay his training more, I woke Damon with sweet kisses and murmured words. I adored him and wanted to keep him in bed all day, except his safety, and mine, relied on him being able to use this new magic .

We returned to the club to a lunch of deep filled sandwiches, chips, and freshly squeezed juices. Damon wolfed it all down, then stole my chips with a grin. I would have given him the world to see him smile like that.

Training was hard on him. Mentally more than physically. Adapting to having magic, being supernatural, was more difficult for him to adjust to. It helped that his family were supportive when he got a chance to break the news.

I knew their reactions wouldn’t make a liar of me. When I’d told him they would be happy, I hoped they would agree with me that Damon being a witch was a good thing. Regardless of his upbringing, with all the families that envied witches, most witches, aside from Basil, were good people who used their magic for good.

Poppy was an endless supporter of Cody, even before his heritage was unlocked. She included him in coven life. He was there to perform a blessing on baby Sage. For that alone, I was a fan of the witch. She called Damon that night before we got into bed. He put the call on speaker so I could listen easily.

“Hey, Damon. I’d like to formally invite you to become a member of the Northarbor coven. We would be blessed to have you. I’m sorry I’m not there to oversee your training personally— “

“It’s alright,” Damon interrupted. “Your baby is far more important than a newbie witch.”

“Hardly the case. Every witch is important. I can’t help but feel if Basil senior was nicer, more supportive of Basil junior—“

“Wait, my Dad is called Basil, too? As in he was so arrogant, he shared his, frankly, awful name, with his poor son? No wonder Basil is a dick. Well, maybe not a dick. I like dicks. Megalomaniac. Yeah, that.” Damon smirked as Poppy laughed.

“Accurate. I mean, dicks are fine, I just prefer—“ There was a commotion on the other side of the line.

“My wife was not about to be vulgar to the new witch she wants to join our coven. Nope. She was going to say women. This woman. Hi, I’m Zinna. Hope to meet you in person soon.”

The other voice spoke in a teasing tone, which I liked straight away. It was how deeply bonded people talked to each other. There was intimacy and so much love in it.

These two were adorable. I regretted not meeting them or speaking to them sooner. No wonder Cody had stuck around the coven with people like them. They had a warmth that was endearing.

“Poppy, Zinna, I’m really flattered you asked.”

“Please consider it,” Poppy cut in. “I know things are awkward with Thyme. Of course they are.” She sighed. “ Oak has asked me to banish Thyme several times. But my gut tells me he’s important. We’re going to need everyone by the end of this.”

Poppy sounded exhausted. Not just having a young baby tired. This was soul weary tired.

“I was going to say I don’t think I’m ready yet. It’s got nothing to do with Thyme. He was stuck in a difficult position. Basil’s actions shouldn’t reflect on him.”

Damon was far wiser than I’d given him credit for.

“Okay, that’s fine. This is an open offer, okay? Hope to meet you soon!”

The call ended.

“Are you okay with this?” I asked Damon after a beat of silence.

“If I’m as powerful as Thyme thinks, then it was natural the coven would want me. If I’m going to learn how to be a…” his voice hitched, “witch, then being a part of the coven is the best choice. I just—“

“Wish things were back to how they were when it was us, Cody and Toth, and the castle?”

“Yeah, before I went and got involved in the Basil shit.”

“If it helps, I don’t regret anything to do with you. Witch Damon, hitman Damon, they are the same to me and I love all sides of you.”

“You say all the best things.”

There were only two more days of peace, hardly any time to teach Damon anything offensive with his magic, before Basil struck.

Whether this was planned, or a spur-of-the-moment choice on his part, taking advantage of Oak and Thyme being so distracted, I wasn’t sure. It worked in his favor, though.

“Shit!” Thyme cried as he looked at his phone.

Oak was staring at his own with a horror filled expression. “No!”

“What’s going on?” Damon approached Thyme hesitantly, taking his phone from him. “Oh, fuck! We have to go!”

“Where? What is it?” I was trying to stay calm as panic saturated the air.

“The coven is under attack! Poppy is there with the baby! We need to get there as soon as possible. Can you fly me?” Damon clutched at my arm for support.

“No, we need Barr. He can take us all. Barr!” I yelled, running across the club, taking Damon with me. We were in the lounge set aside for demons as the rest of the club was in use with a couple of omegas in heat.

“Here, Mori! ”

“We need a portal to the coven house for all of us. Can you manage?”

Barr nodded eagerly, following us back to Oak and Thyme, who were getting reports of the situation. Barr was putting on a brave face, but his tail was low. He was scared. So was I, to be honest. I didn’t know how to fight witches. Damon hadn’t had enough training. Barr absolutely none at all. We weren’t in the right position to be taking part in a fight like that.

“No, it’s not the house, it’s the center, it’s uh, where Poppy has been staying since its wards are deeper. The coven grimoire is there.” Whatever that was, Oak sounded almost as panicked about it as he did his sister-in-law.

“I need to see what it looks like,” Barr said nervously.

Oak held out his phone with a picture of a squat, long building, very nondescript and in the middle of the city. There was no way this wouldn’t escalate quickly.

The portal went up quickly, and we ran through, immediately finding ourselves in the thick of it.

“Damon, Mori, Barr, just knock out witches you don’t know. We’ll sort theirs from ours later. Sleep spells only, okay?” Oak took charge of the situation as Thyme hung back nervously, twisting his fingers. “Thyme, with me.”

I turned to Barr. “Look, you’ve not had any training with this. If you want, just find somewhere to hide. There’s a park there, climb a tree and wait for us to come back.”

“Mori, Sir, I can help.” He tried to put a brave face on.

“Only if you want to, okay?” I wasn’t about to order him to hide, no matter how much I’d like him to.

Damon halted Barr, following us with a hand on his chest. “Look, you are too important to be running around, maybe getting hurt. I need you to take a position where you can see and you are safe. We might need you to make a portal at short notice, so be ready, okay?”

Barr deflated, all his false confidence gone. “Thank you. I’ll keep watch.”

“Here.” I handed him my phone. “Call Alpha Blake. Tell him what’s happening here just in case he wasn’t already alerted. He might want to get some shifters here.”

“Okay.”

Oak and Thyme were in two different fights, back to back, as they tried to get inside the building. With the witches distracted, it was easy enough to sneak up behind one and knock them out. I hated using physical attacks, but my magic, if it could be useful, had to be reserved for what we might find inside.

The other was easy for Damon to knock out. He used a burst of magic, then frowned at his hands. “I’ll get used to that eventually,” he muttered .

As a group, we ran through the building avoiding skirmishes, instead focusing on getting to Poppy.

They were in the heart of the building. Poppy stood with Zinna, a crib behind her. In Poppy’s arms was a book so ancient I was surprised it hadn’t crumbled to dust. The leather binding was frayed. Even from this distance, I could feel the power.

Basil, alone, stood in front of them. He was building a spell, muttering in an old language, Greek or Latin, so old no one spoke it anymore.

Our steps across the boundary must have triggered it. Basil let go of his spell, a percussive wave of energy that shook the foundations of the building.

Damon reacted on instinct. He threw up two shields.

One covering me and him, the other, the crib.

It all happened so fast, I didn’t have time to react to anything.

The blast hit our shield, leaving us to watch as it hit the others.

Oak, Thyme, Poppy and Zinna all fell and didn’t move.