Cole

Cole watched the coroner’s van drive the body away. “Thank you for coming, Officer,” Cole said as he shut the door behind him.

He turned his back against the cold wooden exterior door and breathed a sigh of relief. He and his family had been friends with the sheriff’s office for nearly a decade, since the last time something like this had happened. They’d had to expose themselves just slightly in order for the rest of the town to remain safe. Of course, they’d also made a large donation then to the officers for them to buy them a new cruiser. So at the end of the day, it was a win-win for everyone. Except the person who had died of course.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he sensed someone standing in front of him. He opened his eyes to see Juliet with mascara streaked down her face from crying. “Is she gone?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes, she’s gone.”

“What will they say? What will they say happened to her? What will they tell her family?”

“That she was in a car accident. That there was nothing that anyone could do and that the coroner was called to the scene. Her family will never know what really happened to her and that’s what’s best for everyone.” Juliet wrapped her arms around herself and Cole longed to go over and touch her, to lay a sweet kiss on her temple and convince her that it would be okay. But he knew that she’d just seen a dead body possibly for the first time in her life, and to her, none of this was okay.

“Juliet…” he said as he reached out to her.

“I’m fine,” she alleged, putting up a hand in protest. “I just need to… I don’t know what I need. I need for none of this to be real. I have lived an extremely human existence, and now I feel like everything that I’ve shut out for so many years has caught up with me. I’m a teacher, Cole! Nothing else.”

“That’s not true,” Cole whispered. “You are so much more than that. You’re beautiful and caring and kind and you worry just a little bit too much. But you’re not just a teacher, Juliet. You’re a phantom, it’s in your blood and your bones and you can’t deny it.”

Cole could remember having his own existential crisis when it came to being a shifter. He was a teenager, though, and he couldn’t control his bear at the time. But looking into Juliet’s eyes, he remembered every single feeling that had boiled up under his skin during those years. The sense of losing yourself to something greater, that you wanted it to be your choice. He knew that Juliet wasn’t handling the fact that her choice was taken away from her well. And she shouldn’t. But eventually she would have to accept it and maybe one day tap into her phantom magic in order to be great.

“Did you just call me beautiful?”

He laughed at her. “Is that all that you took out of that?”

She chewed on her lower lip. “Whatever you said got a little fuzzy after that.” She took a step closer to him and he reached out and slipped his hands around her waist. “Why is it that when I’m with you I feel like nothing else matters?”

Cole dipped his head so that it touched against hers, and he was surprised that this time there was no spark between them. “I don’t know, but I feel the same way. Like I need you.”

He could feel her chest rising and falling with each breath. He did need her; he felt like she was part of him. Almost like she matched his soul. It was oddly invigorating to be close to her. He leaned in and laid a soft kiss on her lips feeling just a small buzz of electricity run between them, but this time, there was no visible spark, no pain with the pleasure. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and she willingly let him in. Using his shifter strength, he picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around him as he carried her into the living room off of the entryway. She wrapped her hands around his face and continued to kiss him, but with more fervor. They were both still wearing their wool coats and Cole could feel his internal temperature rising with every step. He laid her down on the sofa and removed his coat as she snapped her fingers, igniting the fireplace behind him.

“I thought you said you weren’t into magic.”

“I have a couple tricks.”

“Well, I can’t wait to see them.” He tossed his coat off to the side and she grabbed onto his tie, pulling him down on top of her.

“Well, if that’s not a sight for sore eyes, I don’t know what is.” Cole whipped his head around to see Dax and Irma standing in the doorway of living room. Immediately, he stood up and walked around the couch as if nothing had just been happening. Even though he knew that everyone in the room knew what was just about to happen, or what he hoped would happen.

“Dax! I didn’t see you there.”

Dax had a smirk playing on his lips. “I like to creep up on people when I have the opportunity. Especially when you could’ve heard your lip smacking from all the way down at the bottom of the mountain. I know you need to get laid, brother, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

Irma ambled in, leaning on a cane while Juliet tried to smooth her unruly hair.

“Aunt Irma, what are you doing here?”

Irma moved to sit down in a chair next to the fire, leaning on her cane as she lowered her aging body. “Well this nice young gentleman here offered to bring me to his castle, and a princess never says no to a castle. Now why are you here? And where is your cousin? I haven’t seen Maxine all evening! And for someone who wanted to spend so much time at the winter festival, I thought she would be more interested in the cotton candy than she was. Stupid girl.”

Juliet raised an eyebrow at Cole.

He crossed the room and kneeled down right in front of Irma. “Irma, what can you tell me about the curse on the Windego wolves?”

“Why is everybody bringing that up all of the sudden? I haven’t heard anything about that in probably twenty or thirty years and now everyone’s talking about it.”

He took her hands within his own. “It’s important. Anything you know, please.”

“All that I know is that the Windego and our coven used to be allies. Against your family, actually. But there was a phantom among us who felt that Marcus was in love with her. She was wrong, of course, he was head over heels for his wife, as it should be,” she added, looking poignantly into Cole’s eyes. “So when Marcus asked to be made into an immortal, she agreed. But she didn’t make his wife into one. And as far as I know, she linked his life to his children’s. So the only way that they would become fully immortal is to lose their father as well. But the coven stopped her, and the curse was never fully completed. And that’s when our coven fell apart. You can ask Juliet, I don’t even practice hardly at all. Most people don’t. We haven’t had a leader since… Well, since Claudia took her own life. She was the phantom who attempted that spell.”

Cole looked up at Dax. “So this is why Nova is here. Her father is dying because Maxine is trying to complete the spell.”

Irma looked aghast. “Maxine? Why would she want to complete the curse?”

Juliet suddenly stood up. “You said that we haven’t had a leader since Claudia passed. Do you think that Maxine believes if she completes the curse that she’ll automatically become the new coven leader?”

Irma shook her head. “What would give you that idea, dear?”

“When I was reading about the spark that happen between Cole and I, I found an old grimoire with some ancient magic. You had it in the basement, and it didn’t look like it ‘d been opened in years, but it said that in order to be the leader of the coven, you had to complete the circle. That the current leader would start a spell and that you would finish it for them. That would pass their power onto you.”

Irma nodded slowly. “But that was in a ritual, that’s not really how it works. The old leader has to offer you their magic, you can’t just take it.”

“Doesn’t seem Maxine understands that portion of the spell,” Dax said, looking towards the door. “And if she does complete it and gets the old coven leader’s magic, who knows what kind of chaos she’ll spread in Crescent Valley. She has to be stopped.”

“Child,” Irma added, “tell me about this spark.”

“There’s not time now Aunt Irma,” Juliet said shaking her head.

“There’s always time for love.”

Juliet sighed. “When Cole and I touched there was a spark between us. I don’t know why.”

Irma smiled, sitting back in the chair. “Simple answer there, you’re mates.”

“We can focus on that another day,” Cole interrupted. He had secretly been hoping that’s what the little shock had meant, but for now they had to conquer Maxine. It was the only way to live happily ever after with Juliet.

“We’ve got a witch to fry it sounds like,” Dax added.

Cole nodded his head; they’d already agreed with Nova that Maxine was the common enemy. It was time to make good on that promise.

“Find Sam and Olivia, see if they know anything about where Maxine is. I remember Nova being a pretty good tracker. Irma, you’re staying here with Juliet, where we can keep you safe.”

“Oh I’m fine, child. You all just go on your little adventure. And listen to me, Maxine? She’s dangerous at the best of times. She always wears that dark lipstick; I should’ve known something was wrong with her. It never matched her eyes.”

Juliet rolled her eyes but then looked directly at Cole. “I’m coming with you. I can help walk you through the magic that she’s trying to throw you. I know all the Latin.”

Irma grabbed onto Cole’s hand. “Listen to her. She knows what she’s doing.”

Cole was fighting every fiber of his being. His bear was growling protectively underneath the surface. He didn’t want to put Juliet in harm’s way. But it didn’t look like he had much of a choice. He stood up and turned around to face her, realizing that she was already buttoning her coat. “Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, she’s your cousin.”

Juliet lowered her voice to a whisper. “And she killed somebody. We can’t let her get any more power than she already has. And I won’t let her kill Nova’s father just to take something that doesn’t belong to her.”

Cole leaned in and laid a brief kiss on her lips. “Just stay behind me, okay?”

Juliet nodded slowly, leaning her forehead against his. “I will.”