Desire Awakened (Aaron's Kiss #13) (9 page)

“That’s pretty special. My dad doesn’t eat
at the desk.” Which was true. He couldn’t eat anywhere. She nearly
giggled at the thought. “Mom and Dad said we could stay with them
until we find a place. I guess you wouldn’t mind that.”

“No way. Your mom is so cool. Did you know
she could pull a rabbit out of a hat? And that Duncan can make the
best sandwiches in the world? And they have a pool and everything.”
He glanced at his dad. “Lizzy, I have a question. I heard that lady
Mel saying something to Mrs. M, and she said that you and my dad
are mates. Does that mean you guys are going steady or
something?”

“Something like that. Your dad asked me to
marry him. You think that would be okay?” He leapt up and wrapped
his arms around her. “I guess you like the idea.”

“Yes. Wow, you’d be like my mom, wouldn’t
you?” She nodded. “And Mr. and Mrs. M would be like my
grandparents?”

“Yes, and my brothers would be like your
uncles. I take it you’re okay with that as well.” He nodded, but
then frowned. “What is it?” she asked.

“My other mom, she’s not going to like this.
She says that she’ll mess everything up if he thinks he can replace
her. I think I know what she means, but… Does she mean she’ll try
and break you guys up?”

“She can try,” Logan said. They both looked
at Logan when he spoke. “Mathew, you don’t have to worry about your
mom. She’ll behave or she might get things messed up for her.”

Mathew nodded and moved closer to her when
his dad sat on the other side. They all watched the insurance
adjuster drive away. Logan stretched out his legs before he started
talking.

“We’re fully covered both here and at my
office building. The damage there isn’t much, mostly just equipment
and a few walls will need to be repaired, but they said it will be
covered too. The police have asked them to hold off on repairs,
however, until they can investigate who did it.” She looked at him
and then at Mathew. “The house, of course, is a total loss, and he
said that we should be all right if we wanted to look or rebuild
right away. So, what are we doing for the rest of the day?”

“House hunting.” Mathew made it sound like a
death sentence. She laughed and asked him why he hated it so much.
“Because they flirt with dad and ignore me. I think I had some good
questions too. That other lady? She acted like I was a bug or
something.”

Lizzy looked at Logan, who was flushing.
“Yeah, she did sort of flirt with me. But we got a good house out
of the deal.”

“Yeah, one that burned down with my favorite
sheets in it.”

She had to put her hand over her mouth as
the two of them argued all the way to the car.

“I don’t think her flirting with me is the
reason your sheets are gone. It was the fault of some very bad men
that I’m going to catch with the help of some of Lizzy’s friends.”
He took her hand as they got to the car. “I guess we’ll need a car
too. This one is going to be too small for us to shop in.”

“I hate shopping too.” Mathew looked at them
stubbornly. “You are not going to be my dad’s wife either. I don’t
like you at all. I want you to go away and not ever come back here.
You’re just…stay away from my dad now.”

She looked at Mathew and reached out to
touch his head to see if he was all right. It wasn’t like him to be
so mouthy and mean. He flinched from her hand, and she grabbed him
and pulled him close. She looked at Logan when she realized what
was happening.

“Get in the car,” Lizzy ordered. “Now. And
drive straight to my parents’ house. Someone is trying to get him
to come to them by making us send him away. Now, Logan.”

He moved to the other side of the car and
got in as she held Mathew in the front seat. She had to finally
hold him as tightly as she could because he was fighting her so
hard. Lizzy reached for her mom with her mind.
“We’re nearly
there. Someone is screwing around with Mathew. They want him to
come to them. I need your help.”

“
Calm down,”
her mother said.
“Look into the boy’s eyes. What do you see?”

“
Christ, they’re blue. Whoever has him
can see us too.”

“
I’ll be out front. The house is safe, so
come right in. And for heaven’s sake, don’t tell Logan where Mathew
can hear you.”

She told Logan what was going on and what
they had to do through their new link. He nodded, but said nothing
out loud. She could feel his fear so she reached for his hand. When
he took it, she felt his strength as if it were her own.

As soon as they pulled up in front of the
house, her mom and Mel came out. Mom hugged her and told her it was
a pleasant surprise to see them. Lizzy asked if they could watch
Mathew for a little while, saying they could get some house hunting
done. Her mom said yes, and they moved to the door. As soon as they
were close, Mathew started screaming.

“Get him inside now!”

Logan finally had to take him, and still,
the boy fought. As soon as they crossed the threshold, his
screaming stopped, and he closed his eyes.

Mel sat with him in her arms for several
minutes before she laid him on the couch. She walked into the
kitchen with them after asking Duncan to keep an eye on him.

“I shall, my lady. I like the young man. He
is ever so polite to me and cleans up after himself very well. His
aunt is in residence as well. Shall I ask her to sit with him too?”
Mel nodded, and when Duncan left, she sat at the table.

“He’ll be fine now. No one will be able to
get to him again. And if they try, I’ll find her in a heartbeat and
make her pay like they won’t believe. It’s a spell. You were right,
Lizzy. Someone wanted him to come to them, and they were getting
him to misbehave so that you’d send him to the car alone. I would
say they only succeeded as little as they did because he is
stronger than they thought and he fought their urge to be bad.” Mel
looked at Logan as she continued. “I’m sorry, son, but it’s his
mother. She knows about Lizzy and the money and thinks to blackmail
you into giving her more.”

“Money? I don’t have any more now than when
I divorced her two years ago.” He looked at Lizzy when Mel did.
“She won’t hurt you. I’ll pay her whatever she wants to make sure
of that.”

“It’s not your money she wants. It’s mine. I
have a great deal of it. More than you would imagine.” He sat down
when she asked him to, and he moved to the closest chair and sat,
not sure he wanted to hear what she had to say. “My father has a
wealthy realm and I have relatives, blood relatives, that have been
very generous in my life. Mel has given me more for my birthdays
than most people make in a lifetime. And I’ve invested well.”

“I had heard that your parents were worth
billions, but there was no mention of you,” Logan said, to which
she nodded. “It was on purpose then.”

“Yes. Your ex-wife must have found out about
me. It wouldn’t take much to find out. Anyone with enough computer
time could have figured it out. And then there’s the recent
purchase I made of a castle in France.”

“You own a castle in France?”

She nodded.

“Okay. Well I… Shit, Liz, I don’t know what
to say about that.”

“Then don’t say anything. So if she knows
that, it’s a safe bet she knows everything.” He nodded. “Logan, she
has help from some powerful beings. Do you know who it might
be?”

She watched him as he seemed to think on it.
He pulled out his cell phone and thumbed through it, then handed it
to her. She didn’t know the name and handed it to her mom and
Mel.

“Black Magic? How original. May I call
them?”

Logan nodded at Mel. She pressed the button
and waited. When she disconnected the call and handed it back to
him, she looked grim.

“What is it?” Lizzy asked her. “You can’t
just call them and say nothing. Damn it, this concerns my son.” She
flushed when she realized what she said and turned to Logan to
apologize. He was grinning at her. When he pulled her into his
arms, she felt like she’d come home. Mel cleared her throat.

“It’s Megan Sims.”

Lizzy pulled away.

“I’d recognize that whiny nasal voice
anywhere. She answered by saying she was the owner.”

“Good Christ,” her mom said. “I thought she
was dead.”

~~~

“We let a few children come to some of these
classes that we held at the castle. Lizzy, of course, came, as did
Mac and a few of the other beings’ children were invited as well.
Most of them had a little power, but none as much as Lizzy and Mac.
When Megan showed up the first day, she picked a fight with Mac.”
Mel smiled at him. “Lizzy has always been overly protective of Mac,
but this time, she nearly got her ass handed to her.”

“She cheated.”

Logan looked at Lizzy.

“She used magic and we weren’t supposed to.
Not until we learned how to do it safely. She used it to try and
hurt me.”

Sara laughed. “She got her back, though. The
next day, Megan tried the same thing, and she ended up with a
bloodied nose and a broken wrist.”

Logan looked at Lizzy. “You cheated?” She
shook her head and looked at her mom. Logan did too when she
laughed again.

“Her uncle Colin showed her how to fight.
And him being a big Irishman with an Irishman’s temper, he showed
her how to fight dirty, but without magic.” Sara took his hand and
showed him how she’d held her fist. “As soon as her fist connected
with Megan, Megan tumbled over her head and ass three times before
she fell in the pool. Two of the royal guards could hardly get her
out they were laughing so hard.”

“So she came back and learned to play with
magic, and now she’s using it against you?” He was confused by them
all shaking their heads. “You said she had classes with Lizzy. I
don’t understand.”

“Lizzy uses white magic, as do the rest of
us. Megan’s is black.” Mel picked up the small herb in the pot in
the window and brought it to the table. “This herb is a pot of
white magic, say. And the roots go deep into the soil and it grows.
When the plant has served its purpose, someone here will pull it
out of the soil and cut it up and put it back into the dirt. The
soil then is repaid for what it gave the user. Understand?”

Logan nodded. “Sort of like recycling of
plastic bags that they make benches out of. Reusable and
recycled.”

“Sort of, but the plant that died actually
helps the next plant grown in this pot.” Lizzy took a bowl from the
sink, brought it to the table, and poured some of the dirt into it
as she continued with Mel’s explanation. “This is the same dirt,
same dead plant, and the same user. But this time, instead of
putting the dead plant in, the earth takes it and prolongs its life
by using magic. Any person using black magic hasn’t borrowed from
the earth but has actually stolen from it. He’s tainted the earth.
And in doing so, he’s stained this area and nothing will grow here.
Anything within this area will have to take from things that are
close until after a while, instead of a small area poisoned, the
area is completely dead.”

He looked at the dirt as he tried to think
what they were telling him. “So anyone who uses black magic can’t
renew their own resources and they take from others. And in doing
so, make a bigger stain on themselves and others. This goes on
until they have to move on and take from somewhere else.”

“That’s it exactly.” Mel nodded and put the
plant back, as well as the bowl. “But even if you only use white
magic, or pure magic, you must remember to pay back whatever you
borrow from. Lizzy gets her power from the earth, as does her mom.
I get mine from everywhere, but mostly from the castle and the
kingdom. Shamus does as well. But the person who is trying to harm
you gets it from the darker things and steals it from others
because she can no longer make it herself. She has to steal from
others, making hers blacker still.”

“And what happens to the earth? Where she
would have gotten her black magic in the first place?” He looked at
Mel when Lizzy did. “It’s dead, right? It can never be used
again.”

“Right. The stronger she gets, the darker
her magic, the more things around her will die. Including herself.
That’s why she’ll steal more, not just to be more powerful, but to
sustain her own life.” Lizzy sat down next to him and touched his
forehead. “You have to work on what you have.”

He nodded. “Tell me what I have to do. I
want to know so that when she tries to hurt my son… How did you
know?”

Lizzy smiled. “He was so negative. Usually,
he’s so up and happy that he makes me feel that way simply by being
with him. But today, it was as if he found fault with everything.
Including the new house.”

“And that made you touch his mind?”

She nodded.

“I want to learn to do that first. It might
come in handy. And I can talk to you without anyone knowing what
we’re saying, right? Like we did in the car when you told me what
was going on.”

“
See what else you can do? You can touch
me as well.”

When he felt Lizzy brush against his cheek,
his cock leapt. She was sending him images that were so erotic that
he nearly stood up to take her to the bedroom. “
Would you like
me to suck your cock, Logan? Take you deep into my mouth and fondle
your balls?”

He nodded but didn’t move.
“Can we come
this way? Can we have sex without actually touching each
other?”
She nodded.

“
But first I want you to move this
knife,” she said.
He looked down at the one that appeared on
the table.
“Move it from here to the sink for me.”

A knife on the table moved just a little
then it seemed to take flight. Aaron walked in just as it flew
through the air, and had it not been for his quick reflexes, he
might have been hurt.

“Working on some of our skills, are we?”
Aaron sat down as he continued. “Did you know that Mathew is in the
game room with Duncan? They’re playing a very heated game that
Tristan left here. I have no idea what it’s called.”