Bewitched, Bothered, and Bitten (18 page)

Confusion and contentment fought for supremacy in my head and in my heart. I found my cell phone charging on the kitchen counter and realized that Finn must have plugged it in for me last night. He managed to find yet another way to take care of me.

My throat tightened when it finally sank into my brain. I’d accused him of trying to take over my life and control me when, in reality, he only wanted to tend to me in a way that modern men rarely did any longer. It may have been old-fashioned, but it was something I would have appreciated from any other man I’d dated in the past. I felt like a heel. I’d characterized his actions in the worst possible light when he’d done nothing to deserve it. Well, maybe he was arrogant and pushy, but I never would have given him a chance to show me who he truly was if he hadn’t pursued me so intensely.

My mind was in turmoil. So many thoughts and emotions swirled inside me that I couldn’t focus. I took a slow, deep breath and decided to take it one day at a time. My entire life was in shambles and all of us were in peril. The only thing I could do now was try to return Finn’s considerate behavior. In fact, I wanted to do for him what he’d done for me, not because I felt obligated but because I genuinely cared.

With that thought in mind, I set the coffee maker to brew a pot of coffee and got to work making a breakfast casserole. I fried crumbled sausage, peppers, and onions and layered them on the bottom of a baking dish. Then I beat several eggs with cream before stirring in some shredded cheese. After a dash of salt and pepper, I poured the eggs into the baking dish with the meat and veggies and put the whole thing in the oven to bake.

Finn still wasn’t awake when I placed the casserole in the oven, so I decided to wait until it was ready before taking a cup of coffee upstairs for him. I had several hours before the coven meeting at 11 a.m., so there was no rush and he deserved the rest.

I poured myself a cup of coffee, adding creamer and sugar, and carried my phone into the solarium. When I checked, I saw that Donna had called me three times last night. Concerned, I tapped her name and put the phone to my ear.

“Why in the hell haven’t you been answering my calls? I was worried sick until Conner called Finn and he explained that you were working with Belinda.”

Okay, so she was angry. “I’m sorry, Donna. I meant to call yesterday, but it was…stressful.”

She paused before blowing out a breath. “You’re forgiven. But don’t scare me like that again.”

I had to smile at her grudging acceptance of my apology. She talked a tough game, but Donna really was a softie at heart.

Her voice softer and full of concern, she asked, “Are you doing okay?”

My throat tightened. “I’m fine. Nothing a day at the spa and killing a warlock won’t cure.” She was quiet for so long I thought we’d lost connection. “Donna? Are you there?”

“Why do you do that?”

I winced at the hurt in her voice, though I wasn’t exactly sure what she was talking about. “Do what?”

“You distance yourself from others with humor or sarcasm. Why?”

“No, I don’t.”

She sighed again, and it sounded sad rather than frustrated. “You do, Kerry. I’ve known you for years and every time I bring up your father, you avoid the discussion with jokes and self-deprecation. There’s so much about your history that I don’t know. And you’re even more aloof with others, like Lex or Belinda. I watched you and listened to you at the party a few nights ago. You do and say things to put others on the defensive, even those that want to be your friend. I don’t understand it.”

I wanted to deny it, but she had a valid point. For years, I did things to purposefully annoy Belinda and other coven members, using the excuse that it was all in good fun, and I considered my slightly hostile banter with Lex to be his doing since he tended to be moody. In reality, I instigated it all.

Some of my actions were meant keep my friends from knowing certain things about me. It hadn’t occurred to me that they weren’t like the coven elders and members. They wouldn’t look at me as though I were tainted just because of who and what my father had become and they wouldn’t care if I was the most powerful witch in the universe. To them, I was still Kerry.

“You seem dead set on remaining alone and it breaks my heart,” Donna whispered. “I’m here for you. So are Ivie, Shannon, and Ricki.” She paused. “Finn would do anything for you. Please don’t push us away anymore. You don’t have to be alone.”

Finn had said something similar all those nights ago on my front porch before my world had descended into chaos. I took a shaky breath when I realized that he understood me with the same depth that my closest friends did. He knew me, every part of me, and he still came after me and cared for me.

Once again, something inside my chest shifted, settling into place as though a part of me had been waiting for this moment.

“Goddess, I think I’m falling in love with him,” I breathed.

“What?”

Damn, I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Unfortunately, it was too late.

“You love Finn?” Donna asked. “How is that possible? Just a couple of weeks ago I overheard you threaten to turn him into a lobster and have surf and turf for dinner.”

I chuckled at the memory. My threat had only worked for a couple of days before Finn had gone right back to his sneaky ways.

“There’s a lot I haven’t told you and I said
I think
I’m falling in love with him,” I answered.

“Apparently,” Donna quipped, obviously irritated at my closed-mouthed responses. “Wait! You did it again! Here I am trying to be sensitive and tell you that I’m here for you and you change the subject.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I didn’t mean to. Would it make you feel better if I told you something you said helped? So, thank you.”

Donna stammered for a few seconds before answering, “Well, you’re welcome. Don’t you think for a single second that I’m letting you off the hook, Kerry. I want the whole story, every tiny detail of it, the next time we see each other. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Ugh. Don’t call me ma’am.”

“As you wish, bitch,” I retorted.

“Oh, bite me.”

Smiling, I said, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I glanced at the clock and realized the casserole would be done soon. “Okay, I have to go. I made breakfast for Finn, so I need to go wake him up.”

“Ooohhh, you have fallen hard. Usually you’re out the door before the guy can get up to pee and now it’s all,
I made breakfast for Fiiiinnn
.”

“Shut up.”

She laughed. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

I disconnected the call with a huge grin on my face. Somehow, my conversation with Donna made me feel as though a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I hadn’t realized how much of a burden those thoughts and fears had become or how much I’d isolated myself from my friends.

I rose from the chair I’d perched on and turned to leave the room. I yelped when I saw Finn leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed over his bare chest and his hair rumpled from sleep. But it wasn’t how sexy he looked that caught my attention, it was the expression on his face as he looked at me.

He straightened as I got closer to him, looping his arms around my waist, pulling my lower body into his. I stared up into his amethyst eyes and my heart leapt. There was tenderness and something more in their depths.

Finn leaned forward and brushed his nose alongside mine in a sweet, affectionate gesture that made my knees weak.

“Good morning.” His voice was still sleepy and rough.

“Morning.”

“Thanks for making coffee and whatever is in the oven. It smells delicious.”

I pulled out of his arms. “Shit. I forgot about breakfast.”

I heard him chuckle as he followed me back into the kitchen and, for the first time since my mother died, I didn’t feel lonely or afraid of what the future might hold.

F
inn and I
walked into the office building hand-in-hand. The coven meeting was to be held in one of Conner’s office buildings. The coven elders hadn’t wanted to go to his or Lex’s home and had refused any vampire or pack presence in our usual meeting place, so a compromise had been reached.

With the exception of his security detail, most of Conner’s employees were human and the coven elders were convinced that any nefarious deeds that the vampires or wolves had planned would be foiled by the presence of humans.

Honestly, I thought they were kidding themselves. A powerful vampire like Finn could easily control the few mortals on the floor and wipe their memories when the time came. If the vampires wanted to harm the coven, then a semi-public venue wouldn’t stop them.

It seemed that the centuries in which witches had avoided vampires made us weak when it came to defending ourselves against attack. Because of the prejudices the coven instilled, many of our members had very little understanding of vampires and their abilities and even less knowledge of how to defend themselves. My mother had ensured that I knew about all the supernatural species, though many of the coven elders thought it was sacrilegious.

Finn squeezed my hand gently, taking me out of my thoughts. We rode the elevator up to the tenth floor, still holding hands. He didn’t even release me when we entered the designated office for our meeting.

He seemed to know where he was going, so I let him lead me down several hallways until we reached a door that was labeled, Conference Room 2. Finn opened the door for me and let me enter first, never releasing my hand. My feet hesitated for a moment when all eyes turned to us. All of the coven elders were present and so were quite a few of the regular members, both men and women. Belinda was seated at the head of the large conference table, an empty chair next to her. Along the wall behind her, Lachlan, Donna, and Conner were sitting and conversing among themselves.

I tried to ignore the stunned stares from my fellow witches and the disgusted expression that each of the elders wore. I’m sure Belinda received none of this when she entered with two vampires and a werewolf because she wasn’t the tainted one. Despite the fact that my mother had been greatly respected among the coven, I carried my father’s blood, the blood of a warlock that practiced the most forbidden magic. Donna wanted to know about that part of my life, but she would be horrified if she did.

I kept my head held high as we walked to the front of the room, my face impassive, and refused to look away when someone met my eyes. Finn tightened his grip on my hand for a moment before he released it and moved to sit with the other vampires and werewolf.

Belinda’s face held approval when she saw the gesture of affection between Finn and I and she smiled slightly at me. The High Priestess radiated confidence and strength. I wished I felt half as self-assured as she appeared.

“We will begin soon,” she whispered as I took the seat next to her. “Are you ready?”

I glanced over at her. “Not really.”

She patted my arm gently, her demeanor reminding me a great deal of my mother. “You’ll do fine.”

“Is it too late to change my mind about this whole successor thing?”

She barely managed to stifle a sigh and I bit back a grin. I loved giving her a hard time. Some of my amusement faded when I realized that, once again, I was pushing her buttons and thus creating distance between us.

“Thank you for believing in me, Belinda.”

She seemed surprised at my words. “You’re the best choice for the next High Priestess. I don’t care what anyone says about your mother or your father. They won’t be leading this coven, you will, and I think you will do a damn good job.”

As it had been for years, Belinda was the only one in the coven who had any faith in me. I nodded and she stood and called the meeting to order. I could see both the speculative and disapproving looks I was getting. Most of the elders looked as though they’d just bitten into a Lemonhead. The rest of the coven seemed curious and maybe a little uneasy.

Belinda began by saying that this was an emergency meeting and normal protocol would be suspended. Though I hadn’t thought it possible, two of the elders faces’ became even more pinched and annoyed. Still, no one objected until she mentioned me.

“With so much upheaval in the underground community of Dallas, I decided that I should choose my successor as High Priestess. I have selected Kerry Gayle and would like the ritual to be completed today.”

Several of the coven members objected, most notably Janice March. She was the newest of the elders and a few years older than Belinda. She’d also wrongly assumed that she would be the next High Priestess.

“Absolutely not!” Sharon Greene, Janice’s mother, jumped to her feet. “She isn’t fit to be a member of this coven, much less the leader. I’d rather see you choose a High Priest than her,” she hissed.

I tried not to flinch. I knew what they all thought about me, but this was the first time that anyone had said it so bluntly. Most of the time, I endured thinly veiled barbs and backhanded compliments. High Priests were rare, not that male witches were rare, but likely because the men knew better than to take on all the drama that came with the job.