Moon Coven: a Paranormal Witch Romance
Moon Coven
Conner Kressley
Rebecca Hamilton
Contents
Copyright
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
About Kressley & Hamilton
Moon Coven © 2016 Conner Kressley & Rebecca Hamilton
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
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MOON COVEN
Julia's coven has been at war with Roman's for generations. Now their love for each other may be the death of them both.
* * *
An arranged marriage with a warlock from a new startup family of witches will finally cement the Fairweather coven’s reign over Savannah and thoroughly crush those pesky Blackwoods once and for all. And it’s up to Julia Fairweather to play the bride.
That proves to be difficult, though, when there’s Roman Blackwood to think about. Julia has never felt a connection like she does with the smug warlock from her coven’s rival family. The heat, the passion—it has no place in a family feud that has stretched on for centuries, and yet, it’s undeniably there.
Julia must move past the way she feels and follow through on what she needs to do for her family. But with Roman refusing to keep his distance, it’s more likely the two will embark on a heated adventure destined to destroy themselves and bring down the two greatest witch families Savannah has ever seen.
Chapter 1
It’s strange what you forget, and stranger still the things you miss.
When Julia left this place eighteen months ago, it took all she had not to cry. Savannah was her home. Had been her family’s home before her, and her ancestors’ home before that.
At one time, Julia thought it would be her children’s home, too.
The Uber driver turned left on Abercorn, heading toward Julia’s family’s estate. “You don’t recognize me, do you?”
She didn’t answer. Being back here was too much…too much of everything.
“Oh, you’re ignoring me,” he quipped, finally getting Julia’s attention. “It’s like high school all over again.”
“High school?” she asked, lifting her gaze away from her hands.
From what she could see, which wasn’t much outside of the back of his head and a sliver of eyes in the rear view window, he didn’t look at all familiar. Shaggy brown hair, light blue eyes. He seemed pleasant, though apparently not pleasant enough for her to remember.
“You’re Julia Fairweather, right?” he asked with smiling eyes. “I’m Scott Parker. We had AP Applied Sciences together junior year. We dissected two ends of the same frog if, I remember correctly.”
“Sorry.” Julia grinned, though inwardly, it was more of a grimace. “I must have blocked it out.”
He took the next left. Home wasn’t far off now. Her pulse raced. Why was she so nervous? This was her family after all, where she belonged. So why did she feel as if she was about to be marched out in front of a firing squad?
“Maybe,” Scott said affably. “Though I don’t think you were paying much attention to it in the first place. Not that I blame you. Who needs to know what the inside of a frog looks like anyway?”
“That depends on how often you use amphibian liver,” Julia mumbled under her breath. “I hear it’s the new eye of newt.”
“What’s that?” Scott pulled to a stop in front of the large white house that had served as Julia’s family home for the last two hundred and fifty years.
She blinked hard. This was it. The black iron rods encapsulating the grounds, the stone gargoyles and steel dragons that those who didn’t know better assumed to be simple decorations…
But Julia knew better. She had seen those trinkets put to use. Had seen them hurt more than a few people, including one person who meant more to her than she cared to admit at the moment.
She shifted her attention back to Scott. “It was nice to see you again,” she said. “Glad you’re doing well.”
“I wouldn’t call it well.” He threw his car into park and turned toward her. “I sort of flaked out after graduation, but I’m in night school now, working toward getting my real estate license.”
Now that she could see his face fully, she did remember him. Not by name, of course. Her sort didn’t socialize with baseline mortals much, not even as children. But she did get a sense that she had seen that face before and, at a time when she was feeling more than a little on edge, it helped calm her somehow.
“We all have different definitions of success,” Julia offered.
“I get that.” His face turned toward the huge house she grew up in, eyes going wide.
Julia smiled softly. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“I’d love to test that theory,” he said in the same voice everyone did when they saw this house but didn’t see the price you had to pay to live in it. “You know,” he said with a chuckle, “when we were kids, the guys on my street thought this place was haunted. They thought you guys were witches or something.”
“Imagine that.” She smirked, refusing to meet his gaze. “Well, I should—” The breath caught in her throat when she saw it. Faint red spots dotted underneath Scott’s right eye.
Blood vessels that had burst.
She shook her head, sighing loudly. They could have been nothing. They could have been just a result of a few late nights or a few drunken benders. Lord knows she wouldn’t have looked at them twice back in Iowa. But Julia wasn’t in Iowa anymore. She was back home. In Savannah. Back home with her family.
Back home with her coven.
“Really, Mother?” Julia said, sitting back and folding her arms over her chest. “You don’t trust me enough to let me take an Uber back from the airport?”
“What?” Scott grinned nervously. “I don’t think I understand.”
“I’m warning you, Mother. I will tell him.”
“Tell me what?” Scott asked.
When still Julia didn’t get the response she was looking for, she said, “Those blotches under your eyes are physical symptoms of a spell.”
“What’s that now?” He tilted his head to the side, probably thinking that she h
ad lost her mind. But the other presence in Scott’s body knew better.
“A spell. As in magic—particularly witchcraft.” She rolled her eyes, growing more and more agitated by the moment that her mother was holding out from revealing herself. “You weren’t wrong about my family, Scott. You were just in the wrong place.”
“Ummm… Are you all right?” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I mean, I’d heard you had lost your mind or something, but I figured that was a rumor.”
Julia winced. That hurt more than a little. She had hoped she’d been gone long enough that her little ‘incident’ might have been forgotten. Apparently, she’d been wrong.
It hadn’t been her, though. Not really. But there was little need in explaining that to a mortal like Scott. He wouldn’t have believed what she was, let alone the reasons she left. No one could.
Julia pushed the emotions down and gave Scott a stony stare. “Be that as it may, you’re not exactly learned in this particular area.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Consider us on opposite sides of the frog again, Scott. And you have no idea what you’re about to find.” She leaned forward. “This particular spell you find yourself under has the curious effect of letting another person—a witch or a warlock—see through your eyes. It’s why you’re starting to blotch up under there. From all the pressure. Now, if the witch that spelled you also opted to use mandrake root—and since it’s my mother, I’m fairly certain she did—it would also give her added ability of taking control of your body for a brief time. So, you’ll have to forgive me when I look you in the eyes and say, woman up and talk to me, you bitch!”
The color and expression drained from Scott’s face and was then instantly replaced with the self-aware aloofness that was her mother’s signature expression.
“Oh dear, really now,” Mother said through Scott’s lips, forcing his voice up into an uncomfortable falsetto. “Must you be so dramatic?”
“I don’t know, Mother. It depends. Must you be such a stalker?” Julia shot back. “I guess we’re both going overboard today.”
She rolled Scott’s eyes and put on her best guilt face, which didn’t work as well in this particular visage. “Forgive me if I wanted to look after my daughter. You do know it’s been well over a year since I’ve laid eyes on you. Did you ever think I just wanted to see you sooner?”
Julia opened the door and stepped out. “There’s a thought…”
Scott’s body moved to follow her. “Believe it or not, I’m happy to see you,” Mother said, sticking Scott’s hip out in a way Julia was sure he never would have himself. “This place just hasn’t been the same without you.”
“And I haven’t been the same without it,” Julia answered. “Though I think that was the point.”
“You had a weak moment.” Mother scoffed. “Let’s not make more of it than it is. The important thing is that you’re back now. And not a moment too soon. I assume you heard about what happened?”
“Why else would I be here?” she asked, turning to face the house. “Now get out of that poor man’s head, Mother. You’ve put him through enough.”
“Enough is what you’ve put me through.” She huffed. “Imagine what I thought, finding you up and gone in the dead of night like that. And what I had to tell my friends. Why, they were looking at me with actual pity in their eyes. It was revolting.”
“I’m sorry my breakdown was so hard on you, Mother,” Julia answered. “I’m sure you’ll find a way for me to make it up to you. Now will you please vacate that man, or do I have to get the hose?”
“Fine.” She huffed. “I’ll see you inside. Don’t dawdle.”
After a moment, Julia turned back to Scott. His expression had returned to normal, except for that whole mouth-twisted-into-terror look people get about them after coming out of a spell like this.
“Wh-what on earth just happened?” he asked.
“Nothing you’ll remember,” Julia answered, sticking out her hand. “Do you have any gum?”
“Gum? I just got possessed and you’re asking for gum?!”
“Keep your voice down. It was barely an inhabitation.” She stuck her hand in his jacket pocket and fished around until she found a pack of gum. Pulling it out, she read the list of ingredients.
“Real cinnamon,” she read. “Fantastic.”
Scott stumbled backward. “Get away from me!”
“I will in just a minute,” Julia said, plucking out a piece of gum, wadding it up in her left hand, and blowing on it.
She murmured under her breath, “Forget,” and just like that, the horrible memories that would have no doubt kept Scott up at night vanished forever from his mind. His body relaxed. His face reverted to a polite smile. If only magic were always so easy.
“Well it was really nice to see you,” he said, sticking his hands in his pockets.
“You too, Scott,” Julia said, pulling some crumpled bills from her pocket and handing them to him. “And keep the change. You’ve more than earned it.”
His face lit up freely. “Thanks so much! And have a great night, Julia. I’m sure you’re happy to be home.”
“Something like that,” she said, grabbing her bag.
Walking through the gate, she tried to keep her wits about her. This place could play tricks on you if you let it. God knows she learned that the hard way.
As she neared the house, the door—the one with the crescent marking—opened slowly, beckoning her back to it after all this time.
“Lamb to the slaughter,” she said, swallowing hard.
And then she did the only thing she could do. She went home.
The steps lay at her feet as she paused at the front door. Would this ever feel like home again? Would she ever feel like herself again?
Julia smelled the roses even before she heard her voice, which should have been a dead giveaway. Whether it was by power or preference, Cassandra always smelled like roses.
“There she is,” Julia said.
“My favorite cousin in the world,” she replied, a smile in her voice.
Julia turned to her, relaxing as her eyes fell on Cass’s brown curls and easy smile. She had always been Julia’s favorite person here, and the only one she’d ever dared tell about what happened last year.
About Roman.
“It’s not like the competition is very stiff,” Julia said, walking over and scooping into a hug the only person she had really missed.
“It’s damn good to see you again,” Cassandra said, squeezing Julia tightly. Though she wasn’t even trying, Julia could feel the power coming off her in waves.
In the time that Julia was gone, Cass had been practicing, getting stronger. And what had Julia been doing? Licking her wounds and mending a broken heart.
“I could have picked you up from the airport, you know,” Cass said, releasing her cousin.
“It’s fine. I called an Uber. Besides, Mom sort of tagged along.”
Cassandra grinned. “Mandrake root?”
“She’s so overbearing,” Julia answered, instantly falling back into their old routine. It was as if nothing had changed. Funny how everything had.
“We all are,” Cass said. “It’s the Fairweather family curse. Well, that and the Blackwoods.” Her expression pinched. “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Julia waved it off as if the words hadn’t just squeezed a vice grip around her heart. “He’s here. I get it. Hopefully, I can get in and out of here without running into him.” She blew out a thin breath, but it did nothing to alleviate the anxiety twisting in her stomach. “How is that stupid feud anyway?”
“Still going,” Cassandra said. “Though everything had been at a lull lately until the other day.”
Julia didn’t have to ask what she was talking about. It was Grandfather—the entire reason she was here.
“Speaking of,” Julia said, pursing her lips. “I suppose it would be bad form to keep them waiting much longer.”
“It won’t be that bad,” Cassandra offered.
“Speak for yourself,” Julia muttered. “The last time I was in this house—”
“I remember,” Cassandra said sharply. “Let’s not relive it.” She took Julia’s hand in hers. “Besides, you don’t have to do it alone.”
And, with that, they made their way into the belly of the beast.
Chapter 2
This kid had nothing. Even if he hadn’t been sweating like a whore in Sunday services, Roman would have been able to tell that.
It was in his eyes, in the way his arms were shaking. It was in the way he held his hands all wrong. Any conjurer worth his smelling salts knew heat was called from the earth, and that meant index fingers pointed down.
This idiot was palms up—a sure sign of a novice.
It was as if he was begging Roman to take his money. And sure enough, Roman was about to oblige him.
“As always, first spark wins. Start on my count,” Benji said, standing between Roman and the foolish boy with hair the color of washer fluid.
Benji leaned down, his face piercings glistening against the moonlight, and placed a pile of dry straw in front of the kid’s feet. He did the same thing with Roman, glancing at him on the way up.
He knew what was about to happen here, too. It was a safe bet that every witch and warlock surrounding us—about twelve in total—got a whiff of the new car smell coming off of this greenhorn.
He was maybe nineteen and, at most, a year out of training. What had happened to him, to send him out here on the bad side of Savannah with the dark witches and troublemakers?
Whatever it was, maybe this beating would be enough to send him scampering back home. If that happened, then the little punk should thank Roman for what was about to go down.
Of course, people probably wondered the same thing about Roman the first time he showed up here. It wasn’t every day that the son and heir apparent of one of the city’s most prominent witch families showed up on the docks ready to gamble away his birthright for a quick thrill.