Chapter Twenty-Four
Macgrath
The world stopped as I held Ava close. Even though I remembered her as Aveta, the witch I’d loved so long ago, she was no longer that woman to me.
She was Ava. Fierce, independent, and funny. Before Rhiannon cursed us, she had been independent but insecure in some ways. She never understood why I wanted her heart.
Her body, she gave freely and willingly, but her heart she had always guarded viciously. It had taken so long to break through. Years.
Yet now, even after all that happened, the woman she had become was confident enough to trust her judgment and open her heart to me.
It humbled me.
Our daughter was lost, gone forever. I’d never even laid eyes on her.
It hurt more than I expected considering it happened nearly two thousand years ago.
Yet, in my heart, it happened yesterday.
I felt as if all this time I’d lived two lives—one that ended when I lost Aveta and another that began when Rhiannon cursed us.
Those two lives had merged and it hurt. My heart and my head throbbed as aches assaulted me. The physical pain in my temples was nothing in comparison to the heartbreak ripping at my chest.
“Alaunus.” Her voice pulled me back from the brink. My name on her lips was both beautiful and excruciating.
Just as she was no longer Aveta, I was no longer Alaunus. Not completely. While remnants of the human man remained, he seemed like a distant memory rather than the person I’d been.
“Don’t call me that,” I demanded, my voice breaking. When she flinched, I tried to explain. “I—” I swallowed hard. “I’ve been Ewan Macgrath for so long now that I can’t be anyone else.”
“I understand,” she answered, her voice soft, gentle. Her hand rested on my neck, warm and tender. I knew she did. I could feel it.
Now that my memories had returned, I recognized that tone. She had used it to soothe me when I was upset about my father and his expectations or with her. She had once been gentle, kind, and now that I had enough years of watching humans, downtrodden. Her life and the way the villagers had treated her, it had taken a toll.
In this time, my Ava was stronger, fiercer, and no longer shackled by society. She was free and awesome to behold.
I rested my forehead on hers, closed my eyes, and focused on breathing. Our bodies were still entwined but my cock was soft and had slipped from her. Just feeling her skin against mine helped calm me.
As my thoughts settled somewhat I realized that I could feel Ava. Not merely physically, but in my head and in my heart. We shared a connection of mind and spirit. We had since Ava created me.
My eyes flew open and our gazes clashed. Now that I could think clearly, the memories were sharper. I was able to make sense of the thoughts and images that flashed through my mind.
“Rhiannon took you from me,” I murmured. “She took our child from me. She took everything.” I knew my eyes were glowing. I could feel the heat behind them, the rage. “She will die for what she’s done,” I snarled.
The fury that gripped me was out of my control. It was wildfire, a flaming maelstrom two millennia in the making.
“Ewan.” Ava’s voice barely broke through the wall of ire that surrounded me. “Ewan, please. You’re hurting me.”
Her words and their meaning pierced through. I blinked, returning back to myself. The storm was still inside me but it was no longer controlling me.
I realized that my grip on her waist was painfully tight. I released Ava and stared down at the handprints I left behind. The bruises were already turning purple. She hadn’t even whimpered when I made them but I knew that it must have been excruciating at the time.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I whispered. I wrapped my arms around her and rolled over, bringing her body on top of mine. I placed my hands over the bruises and let a bit of power slip from me. Just enough to heal the broken blood vessels and tender flesh.
Ava sighed and relaxed against me, her forehead resting in the curve of my neck.
“Better?” I asked.
“Yes,” she whispered.
My anger was leashed. For now. But I knew I would need to find a way to release it. Preferably upon the witch that deserved it. Rhiannon deserved to die for everything she had done, the people she hurt.
My cell phone chimed. I ignored it, but Ava glanced over.
“It’s Callum,” she muttered. “You should probably answer it.”
I grunted, reaching out for the device.
“Yeah?”
Callum’s voice was hoarse when he replied. “Could you call off your pet witch please?”
I sat up, one arm still around Ava. “She’s with me. What are you talking about?”
“Let’s see, she has long curly hair, a vampire, and a wolf with her.”
To my surprise, I was able to smile. “You mean Kerry? She’s harmless.”
Callum groaned. “She has you fooled if you truly believe it. Please call her off before she kills us. We’re at the end of the driveaway.”
“On my way,” I replied, climbing out of bed. My body was still vibrating with anger and my thoughts were dulled by the rage. I would have to remain in control until the time was right. I consoled myself with the knowledge. “Callum and Marcus had a run-in with Kerry and the others. I need to go out there.”
Ava nodded and rose as well. “I’m going to check on Savannah,” she said as she walked to the bag in the corner that held the clothes Kerry packed for her.
I dressed in a blur of motion then approached her. She was still naked, but held an armful of clothing. I put my hands on her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Someday soon, this will all be over,” I murmured. “And we will have a chance to discover each other again.” The promise of time with her still wasn’t enough to ease the ache in my chest completely, but it was a start. Only the knowledge that Rhiannon had been punished would be enough to remove it forever.
Ava lifted her hand and placed it on my chest. “We will.”
A shadow moved across her mind, but I didn’t have time to ask her what was bothering her. After two thousand years, a few minutes wouldn’t hurt.
I brushed her mouth with mine. “I’ll be back shortly.”
She nodded and I watched her face as I gathered my magic and focused on the point where Kerry’s power was the strongest. I was surprised that I hadn’t felt it earlier. It throbbed around her, ripples of magic reaching all the way to the house. Damn, the witch was more powerful than I realized. Almost as powerful as Ava.
Ava and I stared at one another as I traced out of the room. Her bright lavender eyes remained in my mind as I appeared at the end of the driveway.
Immediately my anger at Rhiannon was forgotten because my first instinct was to laugh. Kerry had used her magic to plaster them both to their car. While they could trace short distances, their ability wasn’t as strong as mine. They preferred to drive or fly, which I never understood. Flying wasn’t natural. There wasn’t a lot that could kill a vampire, but falling thousands of feet and crashing to the earth in a fiery explosion sounded like something that would manage the task.
Callum and Marcus stood facing their car, their bodies completely stuck to the metal. Their arms were up as though they’d lifted them to show they meant no harm, and their faces were squished against the roof of the vehicle. Callum’s phone sat on the roof, not far from his mouth.
Kerry and Finn turned to look at me. Harrison was in wolf form and he sauntered over to Marcus and lifted a leg.
“Pee on me, shifter,” Marcus growled. “And I’ll skin you and wear your fur as a hood.”
Harrison’s eyes narrowed and he growled back but he didn’t urinate on my offspring. I could swear he was smiling as he sauntered away, his wolf tail high in the air.
“Kerry,” I muttered as I approached the witch and her vampire mate. “Finn. What’s going on?”
Kerry glanced at me, a wicked smirk on her face. The witch was enjoying this.
“These two set off the perimeter wards. Instead of staying put, they drove further onto the property and activated the protection spells.”
“So you decided to glue them to their car?”
She chuckled. “That was the spell. It stopped their car and when they got out, it kept them, uh, close.”
It was difficult to hold back my laughter, but I managed it. “And how exactly did Callum call me?”
“Fucking telekinesis, asshole,” he grumbled. His words were garbled because his cheek was squashed against the car’s roof. “Marcus pulled it out of my pocket, put it near my face, and called you.”
I couldn’t completely contain myself then and I snorted. Quickly, I swallowed the rest of the chuckles. Callum and Marcus were doing me a favor by coming here. It wouldn’t do to piss them off before we accomplished what we needed to do.
“You can release them, Kerry. They’re my offspring.”
“I figured as much,” she replied. “But I wanted to wait until you and Ava were finished with your…talk.”
My urge to laugh died as she reminded me of the shitstorm that had exploded over our heads this morning and the memory that had returned.
“You knew what would happen, didn’t you?” I asked. It was a struggle to keep my voice even as I realized what Kerry meant. Her cryptic words and behavior leading up to this morning made sense. Her reaction when she saw Ava for the first time, everything. “You knew who we were as soon as you saw us,” I murmured.
Her gaze softened. “I did and I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. But you saw what happened to Ava when some of her memories came through. She was in agony. And then what happened to you when she spoke your name. I couldn’t risk the curse killing you before you broke through on your own. The magic holding you both has weakened over centuries. It was a damn powerful spell to last two millennia. Then, once the two of you were together, you were stronger. Your own power shattered the spell. If I pushed you the wrong way or too early, it would have ended in disaster.”
I nodded because I knew that she was telling the truth. I could smell it, and her eyes remained steady on mine. I took a deep breath and as I exhaled, I let it go. There were too many battles ahead and this wasn’t one of them. Kerry made the same decision I would have in her position and I couldn’t fault her for it.
“Heeeeeeyyyyy,” Callum yelled. “Could you please tell your witch to release us?”
I shot Kerry a dry look and she grinned. A moment later, Callum and Marcus straightened from the car and shook out their arms and shoulders. Callum looked irritated but it was shaded with amusement. He’d always been quick to laugh, even quicker to laugh at himself.
Marcus looked as stoic and aloof as ever. He rarely spoke and smiled even less. But he had a wicked, dry sense of humor and he was unfailingly loyal, even when I didn’t deserve it.
I walked forward, lifting a hand to greet Callum. He wrapped his hand around my forearm and surprised me by pulling me into an embrace and pounding me on the back. If I’d been human, he would have broken several ribs.
“It’s good to see you again, Mac,” he said.
I stared at him, confused by his warm greeting. When I walked away from him a century ago, we’d exchanged harsh words and he’d told me to never darken his door again. I couldn’t blame him. I’d chosen my past over my friends.
I didn’t deserve this welcome.
Marcus shocked me further by mirroring Callum’s behavior. I could barely believe my ears when he spoke. “Glad you’re in one piece.” His voice was deep and rusty, as though he so rarely used it that his vocal chords didn’t work correctly. It had always been that way, even when he was human.
As I stared at the two of them, the smile faded from Callum’s face. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
I glanced over my shoulder and Kerry met my gaze. She seemed to instinctually understand that I wanted some privacy because she took Finn’s arm and whistled for Harrison. The group moved another twenty feet away and she began speaking to Finn in low tones.
I faced Callum. “The last time I saw you, you told me to never darken your door again.”
The two exchanged a look before Callum met my stare. “A few decades can change a lot of things, Macgrath,” he finally replied.
My eyes narrowed. Callum wasn’t one to hold a grudge, but I had run off the woman he intended to claim for his mate. Rhiannon had plans for her, but I’d made sure she disappeared first. Callum had been heartbroken and enraged. He truly believed she’d been his mate but I’d sensed that something was off between the two of them. Lisandra, his love, didn’t seem quite right. She smelled completely human, but something about her set me on edge. No matter how I probed her with my magic or how much I watched her, I could never discover her secret. I knew she wasn’t what she seemed. The fact that Rhiannon wanted me to acquire her only reinforced my belief.
Instead of doing Rhiannon’s bidding, I’d helped Lisandra run away. After a token resistance, she accepted my offer of help easily and with no tears. I understood then that she hadn’t loved Callum. Not truly. She wanted to use him.
Looking back, I should have killed her rather than let her go. Whatever she intended for my friend, my brother, couldn’t have been pleasant. But I hated killing women. I didn’t want Lisandra’s blood on my hands when I saw Callum once again.
I had been with Rhiannon for a year by then. I still openly challenged her. Then, as decades passed, I became jaded. I refused to kill for her, but I no longer shied away from doing her dirty work.
Until I met Ava.
“What exactly did time change?” I asked Callum. He and Marcus exchanged another look and I was close to losing my temper. “Answer me.”
Callum sighed. “I discovered…information about Lisandra. Knowledge that helped me realize that she wasn’t my mate. That she only wanted one thing from me—my immortality. Or my version of immortality.”
“She wanted you to turn her?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. She had no desire to be stuck with me for eternity or to drink blood. Only my long life.”
I frowned at him. “And how did she intend to do that?”
He frowned. “She was a witch, like your friend. Very powerful and very dark. But she hid it well. None of us knew.”
“How did you discover this?” I asked, my voice low as I stepped closer. It definitely explained why Rhiannon would have wanted Lisandra.
“She returned for him,” Marcus responded in his rusty voice. “Tried to use magic on him to steal his lifeforce.”
I stared at my friend and saw the regret in his eyes. The fact that I had been right not to trust Lisandra didn’t take away my feelings of guilt. I had made mistakes as well.
“I am sorry I wasn’t there to help.”
Callum shrugged. “I cannot fault you for the desire to know your past. I only hope that you have found what you sought.”
His words brought it all back to the forefront of my mind. Ava. Rhiannon. The curse. My fists clenched.
“I have,” I murmured. “I know who I was and I found the mate I lost.”
Callum and Marcus looked at each other in shock.
“How?” Marcus asked. His gravelly voice was even softer than usual.
“It’s a long story,” I replied with a sigh. “Come up to the house and have some coffee. We have a lot to discuss.” I eyed them both. “Do either of you need blood?”
They both shook their heads, but the question reminded me that it had been some time since I drank. When I bit Ava this morning, I hadn’t consumed much of her blood. The magic that coursed through us had interrupted my feeding.
But even the small amount I drank made me feel…alive. As though I were complete and whole for the first time since I lost her.
I couldn’t wait for this shit with Rhiannon to be over so I could do it again.