Page 10 of Witches and Wine (The Mythical Mates of Arcane Cove #1)

Groaning, I awoke the next day with the blazing sun piercing my eyeballs through the parted curtains at my front window.

I’d typically made every effort to keep them tightly shut to avoid such a natural alarm clock, but Riley wanted to sunbathe.

His crème-colored tail with the black tip hung over the couch, occasionally twitching when he saw something that intrigued him outside.

My comforter was bunched to my neck, and I yawned, sitting up and groggily trying to recall how I’d gotten here last night.

Apollo. The diner. Dion’s place. Dion .

Sucking in a quick breath, I peeled back the covers, relieved to see myself in sleep attire—cotton lounge shorts and a lace camisole sans bra. I froze, pressing my thumb between my eyes to think about it more. Riley hopped onto the bed, turning circles until he sat on my lap, staring up at me.

“Magic,” I whispered, making Riley perk up, his tiny paws rubbing together. “I’m something magical, Riley.”

Riley did several more circles, the most excited I’d seen him since we’d first randomly met in the woods years ago.

Tilting my head, I rubbed a knuckle over Riley’s puffed, furry chest. “You weren’t lost, were you?”

My ferret took my finger between his paws and rubbed his face against it.

“Oh, gods,” I moaned, remembering vividly now that Dion had to carry me home and put me to bed.

That begged the question, did he dress me in my pajamas, or had I? Was it horrible that I’d hoped it was him who’d done it?

Dion had held me to him when I went into a panicked spiral, repeatedly telling me to relax. I’d have no hope of figuring out what I was, let alone bringing whatever power I possessed to the surface by clouding my thoughts with fears and worries.

Relax.

Closing my eyes, I envisioned myself packing the boxes before moving to the Cove.

What had been stashed away in my closet that I’d forgotten about?

There were numerous boxes shoved into corners of high shelves I hadn’t seen in years but kept because what was in them held value. Now, where were those boxes?

Flashing my eyes open, I was startled at the sight of Riley in the same pose, staring at me as if he were waiting for something.

“What’s up? Do you need food?” When he didn’t budge, I continued to go down the list of essential possibilities.

“Water?” The ferret still remained as motionless as a statue.

Chuckling, I scooped him into my arm and carried him to the floor with me.

“You can help me look through these boxes.”

There were only three boxes in my closet, but when I had no idea what I was looking for, the task still seemed so daunting. I could spend hours combing through every photo album, notebook, and memento and still have no idea what I was.

After staring at the boxes like they were an endless, orbiting abyss, I snatched my phone to call my little sister.

A high-pitched yawn was the first thing I heard when she answered on the second ring, “Hello?”

Considering she hadn’t said my name meant she didn’t look at her phone and that she was probably still half asleep.

“Lani? It’s me.”

“Oh, Chelsea, hi,” Elani responded, perking up, her voice wispier and more attentive.

Chewing my thumbnail, I peered at the boxes and scratched Riley’s head. “Did I call you at a bad time? Ugh, you weren’t napping, and I woke up the mother of a flying toddler, did I?”

“Chelsea,” Elani scolded, raising her voice. “You’re my sister. You’re allowed to call me whenever you wish, even if you don’t know if it’ll be inconvenient. I could’ve not answered the phone and called you back, right?”

I grumbled at how much more mature she sounded over me as of late. “Fine. You’re right. How are you?”

“Other than being tired and missing your ass, I’m doing okay, I’d say. But the real question is, how are you ?”

Sighing, I tore the tape from the first box, ready to take a few trips down memory lane with my sister acting as support on the phone. “I know you were younger than I was when mom died, but do you, maybe by some repressed memory, remember anything different about her?”

“Different? You’re going to have to be more specific, sis.”

Adjusting to sit cross-legged on the floor, I pulled out an old green and yellow blanket my grandmother had made me before Elani was born.

It still smelled like lilac and mothballs even after all this time.

Thoughts of her crocheting it as I played with wooden blocks pulled a smile to my lips.

“I found out something recently—something that won’t be shocking to you, but still a bit surprising. ”

“Are you pregnant? Is it Dion’s?”

I let the blanket flop onto the floor and let out an indignant “Lani.”

“What?” My sister asked, giggling. “I’m sorry. I’m all ears.” She still giggled under her breath.

Riley kneaded the blanket and spun a few circles before settling on top of it.

“Remember I told you I moved to Arcane Cove? Do you know much about it?”

Subtle sounds of Hedone’s gurgles and coos sounded from the other side as my niece tried to steal Elani’s phone.

She steadily shushed her child and blew several raspberries on Hedone’s cheeks before she wrestled with the phone again.

“Sorry, yeah, I’ve heard of the Cove, but it’s mostly been in passing from Apollo and Hermes saying they frequent there. Do you like it?”

Removing a stack of notebooks with random story ideas, doodles, and thoughts, I rested them on my lap and thumbed through them. “I love it, but Dion told me something interesting about it.”

More rustling sounded from the other line, followed by a door clicking shut and the tumbler of a lock. “ Dion ? Are you talking to him?”

“Elani, did you just barricade yourself in a room away from your child because you think I have sexy stories to tell you?” As fun as it was to read about a childhood version of myself crushing on the likes of Devon Sawa and Hayden Christensen, these held no clues about my other side.

Elani scoffed. “She’s not alone. Eros is out there. And judging by your tone, you don’t have any scandalous tales?”

“No. But yes, I am talking to Dion again. We hung out yesterday, and he informed me that the only beings this place will allow into it—have magic in their veins.” There was a wooden box with a willow tree carved into the top resting in the crate that I didn’t remember having.

Elani went silent for a beat before letting out a light gasp. “Chels, does that mean—wait, then what are you?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” I responded, my words trailing off as I picked up the wooden box, rested it on my thighs, and ran my fingers over the design, ridding it of dust that collected in my closet. “Dion thinks it has to do with Mom.”

“That’s what you meant by different. But if she was something other than human, wouldn’t she have told you at least? Or why hasn’t Da mentioned anything?”

Gulping, nerves prickling the back of my neck, I opened the box. “Maybe she kept it a secret.”

Riley jumped to his feet and scurried to the now-opened box, his nose twitching through its contents.

“Well, crap, you haven’t had signs or anything? No unexplained sparks or inky tendrils floating from your hands?”

Elani’s words may have sounded absurd to me weeks ago, but I was also too preoccupied watching Riley sort through the various items in the box. He raised on his haunches with a black velvet pouch held in his teeth.

“Do you have anything of Mom’s, Lani?” I asked, holding out my hand to receive the bag from my ferret.

“Only what Da gave me. Her porcelain dish set, a few pieces of jewelry. Why?”

With shaking hands, I cradled the phone on my shoulder and pulled the drawstring.

I’d completely forgotten about the day my mother gave it to me, forgotten I still had it until this very moment.

I shook the pendant into my open hand, tears welling in my eyes—a silver chain with four crystals nearing the circular piece, a pentagram overlaying it, at its center a light blue stone, and hanging from the circle were five tear-drop crystals.

“I think I know what mom was, sis. I think I know—what I am.”

“All of a sudden? Did you find something?”

My sister’s words faded into the background as I pulled from a deeply rooted part of my soul, that pivotal memory from my childhood.

She’d worn it all the time I knew her, but I never associated it with anything other than being a pretty necklace.

That day, she’d removed it from her neck, slipped it into this very bag, and curled my little hand over it.

I couldn’t recall everything she’d said to me, but one phrase in particular, one she’d spoken in Latin, resonated clear as a bell— mea parva maga .

My little witch.

A surge punched at my chest, alerting Riley into a frantic bout of squeaks and circling. Falling back on my elbows, I dropped the phone, faint whispers of snowy white sparkling tendrils fading from my fingertips.

I ran my finger over the pentagram, taking deep, concentrated breaths to keep them from spiraling into chaos.

“Chelsea,” Elani’s voice shouted from my phone.

Fumbling for it, I pressed it to my ear and smiled. “I’m a witch, Elani.”

“A—what?”

Clasping the necklace in my hand, I bit my lower lip, already feeling the magic tickling at the underside of my skin, testing whether I’d let it escape—if I’d use it. “I’ll talk to you more about it later; I’m sorry, there’s just—I need to go somewhere. I love you.”

“Wait, Chelsea, seriously? Wh—I love you too.”

After ending the call, I clasped the chain around my neck and kissed the top of a very excited Riley’s head. Scrambling to my feet, I grabbed a pair of flip-flops, threw on a coat, and clad in a pair of pajamas and determination, I sprinted to Dion’s place.

With zero regard for Dion’s neighbors, I pounded, knocked, and slapped his door with the frantic rhythm of a ravenous rabbit.

“Alright, alright, hold your godsdamned horses,” Dion yelled from inside.