Warlock Brothers of Havenbridge 01 - Spell Bound (12 page)

“My parents died a few months ago,” he replied. His gaze focused on the wood flooring, and he sniffled. I looked at my father and my brothers, and the same expression of grief had seized their features. My family knew a thing or two about losing a loved one. It was a fucking bitch. “But I don’t like to talk about it.”

I could understand that. My mother’s death wasn’t exactly a favorite topic of discussion.

“So why Havenbridge?” my father asked.

The question brought Drake’s focus from the floor back to us. His eyes had turned wet, and the tip of his nose was red. “My aunt Millie lives here. She’s the only family I have left.”

I suddenly developed a new appreciation for my family. Pierce and Thad were the biggest pains in my ass, but they were my brothers. What would I ever do without them?

“Wait a minute,” Pierce said. “Millie? As in Millicent Carpenter? That old bi—” I snapped my gaze at him when he realized what he’d almost said. “Um, you’re related to her?”

Drake nodded.

“Well, even though you aren’t here under the greatest of circumstances, I’d like to welcome you to our little town. It’s not much, but we love it. Perhaps you’ll come to feel the same way about it too one day.”

The thin smile on his lips revealed Drake doubted it would happen.

“Well, I have a call to make, so we’ll leave you two boys to your visit,” my father said upon standing. Thad and Pierce did the same without even being asked to leave. “It was nice meeting you, Drake.”

“Same here, Mr. Blackmoor,” Drake replied as my father and brothers exited the room.

For a few moments after they departed, Drake and I sat in uncomfortable silence. What could I say after what he’d revealed? I couldn’t tell him I understood, that I’d been there too. That would be super lame and likely sound as superficial as it often did.

How many times after my mother’s death had people offered condolences that made me want to hurt them very badly? Perhaps it was because I could tell they weren’t sorry for me. They were happy the tragedy we’d suffered hadn’t happened to them. Their grief was actually joy that they had escaped the suffering that had found my family.

“I bet you’re wonderin’ why I’m here, huh?” Drake asked.

“The thought did pop into my head once or twice.”

He picked up the gift bag he’d been carrying and held it out to me. “I brought you somethin’.”

The only people who’d ever given me gifts had been my family. How was I supposed to react to a random act of kindness? “Why the fuck for?”

Drake sighed in exasperation and shook his head. Evidently cursing in response to a gift wasn’t the path to take. How the hell was I supposed to know that? Our family only exchanged gifts on Samhain and Yule. We didn’t celebrate every damn holiday with presents and celebrations the way witches or humans did.

“How about you just say thank you?” Since I hadn’t reached for the gift, he scooted closer to me on the couch and placed the blue bag with white tissue paper on my lap. The sweet, woody scent that lingered around him filled the air once again. I took a deep whiff.

My breath caught in my throat, my heart fluttered in my chest, and my damn cock turned to steel. Drake’s gorgeous blue eyes, the ones that had somehow entranced me the moment I saw them in the woods, made me almost take him in my arms.

What the fuck was the matter with me?

Drake’s lips parted in a semigrin as he shook the fluttery blond locks that had fallen in front of his eyes out of his vision. “Well, aren’t you goin’ to open it?”

“I still don’t understand why.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake!” he complained. He nudged me with his shoulder, and the slight physical contact sent pulses of electricity coursing through me. It was like getting zapped by Pierce, except this was far more pleasant. My dick agreed and throbbed in response. I was grateful the gift bag hid my erection. “Will you open it already?”

“Fine,” I replied, pulling the white tissue paper out of the bag. “I just wish I knew why you—” And then I saw what was at the bottom of the bag. “My shirt!” I took it out and held it up against myself.

“See, it isn’t all that special.” Even though he was attempting to be humble, he was failing miserably. The pleased expression that pulled his mouth into a wide grin told me that much. “I figured you’d like to have your shirt back. It was the least I could do after you saved my life and all.”

“The very least,” I replied.

Drake’s Cheshire grin retreated to a thin line. “Don’t make me regret being nice to you.”

“Don’t make me regret saving your life.”

His smile sprang right back. “Fair ’nough.”

He sat back, the outside of his right thigh touching my left. The heat from his body spilled over to me. His warmth traveled across my lap and ignited a fire in my already smoldering groin. A long, cold shower before bed was in my immediate future.

“You’ve got a nice place here,” Drake said as he inspected his surroundings. “It’s not quite as cold an’ stuffy as I thought it might be when you first accosted me for trespassin’. It’s formal, but a warm heart beats underneath it.” His gaze lingered on mine a few moments longer than necessary before he once again surveyed the living room. “How about you give me a tour?”

I’d show him around all right. Straight to my bedroom, where he could get a long look at the ceiling from his back. “If you insist,” I said after standing up. I held out my hand.

He hesitated, eyeing my offered assistance. After a few moments, he took my hand, and the comforting warmth of our touch spread across me like an old blanket. I helped him to his feet and when we stood almost nose-to-nose, his sweet breath pluming across my cheeks, I had to take two steps back before I leaned in for a kiss.

Drake flushed, and he avoided eye contact. “Shall we?” he asked, withdrawing his hand from mine.

Desire I’d never experienced before stole the words from my throat, so I nodded and started the tour.

A
FTER
SHOWING
him around the house, I took Drake out to the back patio. The sun had long since waved good-bye, and the moon had begun its steady ascent across the heavens, which were clearly visible in the cloudless sky.

The pale silver light reflected off the stone wall along the east side of the property and the tiny garden that was surrounded by a white picket fence. The shadows and the uncertain light transformed each rock of the wall into a shimmering, opaque pearl. The grass had become a richer, deeper green, as if emeralds had been tilled into the soil, and a perfumed scent wafted on the breeze.

It was like I was experiencing the world for the very first time.

“It’s beautiful out here.”

“I think so too.” I walked down the steps to the yard and turned to face the house. I pointed to the third-floor window of the great hall. “I often sit up there and gaze out to the horizon.”

“What are you lookin’ for?” he asked as he joined me and looked up to where I pointed.

“Huh?”

“Well, it’s always been my experience that when someone’s starin’ out as far as they can see, they’re missin’ somethin’. They don’t always realize that.” He paused for a few moments before repeating his question. “So what are you lookin’ for?”

“I wasn’t aware I was,” I replied with a shrug.

“Well, you are,” he said with confidence. “When you find it, you’ll know.”

Was he right? Was that why I spent so much time up there?

Drake left my side and turned from the house. He looked out onto the back property that stretched about a hundred feet back before merging into the forested area where we’d run into each other. I couldn’t help but stare at him as the moon bathed him in its embrace. His radiant white skin practically glowed, and the long sandy strands of blond hair turned almost silver.

He was the most beautiful boy I’d ever seen. It certainly explained my reaction to him. He revved up my hormones and kicked them into overdrive more than anyone else had ever done before. There had been other boys I’d been attracted to, like Walter Howard, a teenage warlock who’d traveled through the state with his family during Samhain.

We’d hung out together all weekend, made out on my bed, and even got to third base, but once he left, I never really gave him another thought. The same went for any other boy who’d managed to snag my attention. They were useful for satisfying the urges that built inside me like a category-five hurricane.

But something was different here. I didn’t want to chase and then discard Drake like I had the others. I wanted to hold him close and keep him safe. But why was that? Why had I put myself in danger to save his life and broken our laws without a second thought? I hadn’t known him long enough to feel that way.

What was it about Drake Carpenter that intrigued me so much?

“I see you’re enjoyin’ the view again?” he asked. He hadn’t even turned his head to look at me. He just somehow knew I’d been staring at him this whole time.

“You sure are full of yourself, aren’t you?”

He chuckled. “Not at all. Just statin’ the obvious.”

“Yeah, well, you’re wrong.”

Drake turned to face me. A thin, troublemaking smile lingered on his lips. “You really are bad at this, aren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know your secret,” he said, closing the distance between us.

I couldn’t respond. All I could do was stare into his sapphire-blue eyes, which seemed to see only me.

“Did you hear what I said?”

I nodded. What further confirmation did I need? Drake was a shifter. He knew I was a warlock because his animal senses probably smelled the black magic in my blood as easily I detected the cologne he wore. “And I know yours,” I replied. “So what do we do now?”

“Really?” he asked. “I’d reckon it was pretty obvious, wouldn’t you?” His voice had gotten thicker, and the distance between us smaller. Even though we weren’t touching, I could feel the pressure of his body against mine. It was like some wonderful spell had been cast that linked us.

“Not to me,” I said, swallowing the huge lump in my throat. “You’re the first one I ever met.”

A knowing smile danced across his lips. “That explains a lot.”

I guessed it did. How exactly? I wasn’t quite sure, but I wasn’t really thinking clearly. My hard cock pressed painfully against my jeans in a vain attempt to reach Drake. “What do you think we should do?” Only a few inches separated us, but it seemed more like miles. “Tell my family?”

He laughed. “I’d say that’s puttin’ the cart before the horse, wouldn’t you?”

I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant, but I got the general idea. “You think?”

“Well, yeah,” he said. He wrapped his arms around my neck and pressed against me. The contact was warm and comfortable, like a fire in the middle of a dreary New England winter. I couldn’t tear my gaze from the sight of his creamy skin against my tanned flesh. It was mesmerizing. “We take things much slower where I’m from. Give folks a chance to get to know each other before lettin’ the horses outta the barn. Once those suckers run free, there’s not much chance of corrallin’ them back up, if you know what I mean?”

I thought I did. If I told my family Drake was a shifter, the Council and the Conclave would immediately intervene. They’d descend and take him to be interrogated so they could learn why he was here instead of on shifter land, or whatever their damned island was called.

I wouldn’t like that one bit. We were looking for a shadow weaver anyway, not a shifter. And if I revealed Drake’s secret, I wouldn’t be holding him in my arms like I was doing right now.

“You still with me?”

I tore myself from my thoughts and focused on Drake. “Yeah, and you’re right. I won’t say anything to them.”

He smiled. “Good.”

I leaned in to sample his tasty lips, but Drake stepped out of our embrace. I tried to pull him back into my arms, but he grabbed my hand and grinned. “I said slow, remember?”

Fuck. Did that mean for us too? I hadn’t agreed to that. “What about if I promise to kiss you real slow?”

Drake patted my shoulder and walked back up the steps. “I’ll show myself out,” he said. “But I look forward to seein’ you at school on Monday. Maybe next time you won’t be such a dick.”

“I make no promises.”

“How did I know you were fixin’ to say that?”

I shrugged and Drake laughed before he left the backyard, passed through the foyer, and went out the front door.

For a few minutes, I stood there. My thoughts raced through my mind as quickly as my blood filled my cock. A shifter. I had the hots for a fucking shifter.

No. That wasn’t quite right. Whatever existed between us went deeper than just wanting to jump each other’s bones. It was almost magical, as if from the moment we met, Drake and I had been spell bound.

But that couldn’t be possible. We were too young for a magical bonding, weren’t we?

T
HE
NEXT
morning I was wide awake by the time the first rays of the new day streaked through my windows. Not because I was ready to get the day started, but because I’d spent most of the night tossing and turning. I couldn’t shut my mind off long enough to drift to sleep. Ever since Drake left, every single thought had been about him, and it made my head spin.

Everything had happened so fast. One moment we hated each other, and the next I was saving his life and holding him in my arms in the backyard.

Could it really be the magical binding of two spirits we called being spell bound? As Drake would say, that was “puttin’ the cart before the horse,” right?

Being spell bound only happened on extremely rare occasions, and it was the Gate’s way of recognizing love, like that shared by my parents, reborn through the ages. It allowed soul mates to find each other again after each reincarnation.

There was just no way that was what was going on. There had to be another reason, and that was why we had to take things slow and figure out exactly what we felt. Maybe it was pure sexual attraction. Maybe Drake’s shifter pheromones were to blame. Perhaps we’d make out, maybe even have sex, and then find out it was physical, nothing more. That happened to Pierce all the time. He fell in and out of lust so quickly, it gave me whiplash.