Witch Moon Wishes (Wishing Moon Magic Book 3) Page 2

  Her mind drifted back to her earlier conversation with Keely as she gazed out in the direction of the dragon isle. Maybe Silas could arrange a visit. There might just be a dragon out there with diamonds and gold, waiting to shower his mate with love, loyalty, and jewels. And why shouldn’t that mate be Keely?

  “And I thought you came to see me.” Silas glanced warily at the setting sun before he stepped out of the shadows.

  People in the world beyond made movies and wrote books about vampires that instilled fear. But Silas was about as far from those images of evil bloodsucking beings as a person could get.

  Merri cracked a smile. “You might have had something to do with my decision.”

  He grinned and took her breath away. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen, in real life or on the movie screen. His dirty blond hair gave him a rock star appeal. Or maybe a rock god. She sighed. He was all hers.

  Every last undead part of him.

  “Shall we walk?” He reached out his hand and she took it, unflinching as he curled his cold fingers around hers. It had taken some getting used to. There was no warmth to his skin to chase away the chilly breeze, there was no heat in his touch. And yet he gave her warmth of a different kind. She belonged to him, and he belonged to her. The last few months had proven that. He might not be a shifter, but she believed him when he told her she was the love of his very long life.

  “Yes.” She leaned on his shoulder as they headed for the steps down to the beach.

  “You look tired.” He went down the steps first, holding her hand as if he was scared she might fall.

  “Thanks.” She brushed her hand across her face, aware that she was getting older by the second while Silas remained forever unchanged, locked in the body of a thirty-something man in his prime.

  “I say that with concern. Not criticism.” Silas was well aware of her insecurities about her age.

  “I know. I have a lot on my mind right now.” She reached the last step and as she landed, he pulled her into his arms.

  “I realize you do, which is why I invited you down here. I thought I could take your mind off it all.” His blue eyes fixed on her mouth and her tongue slid out and moistened her lips in an involuntary move. It was an invitation, one he was only too happy to accept.

  His lips were cool as they moved against hers, but his kiss, like his touch, ignited a fire deep in her veins. Silas might not have blood flowing through his veins, but it was as if he had an innate power over hers. Blood thumped in her ears as he kissed her and her heart beat so hard she was sure it would explode out of her chest.

  When their kiss broke, she was breathless, and she leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder. “You certainly know how to distract me.”

  He chuckled, a deep sound that emanated from his chest, even though he did not breathe. He was a wonder to her. A complex being held together by ancient magic. The same magic that flowed through her.

  The same magic she was struggling to master.

  “If you need to talk, I’m a good listener.” He turned away from the steps and led her across the sand. Occasionally, other people on the beach surreptitiously glanced in their direction. Silas was a well-known figure in town. Until Merri’s return, he’d been a well-known solitary figure.

  They were the oddest couple in town. Merri had accepted it along with the stares.

  “I’m frightened I’ll fail.” Merri was open and frank with Silas. He would never betray her confidence. He had been the keeper of many secrets for centuries. Her small life struggles were nothing to him. Mere blips in time.

  Damn, she was so inconsequential when you looked at things like that. Silas had lived through so much. He’d witnessed great upheavals of the world and here she was blathering on about her fears for expanding the business.

  “You won’t,” he replied.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I do.” He half-turned to face her as he led her to the shoreline. “There’s no failure in trying.”

  She sucked in a breath. “You’re saying that by trying, I’m succeeding and while I appreciate those words, I really do, I need for this to work.”

  “I could come with you and glamour the store owners into buying all your products.” His words were meant to cheer her up, but they sounded glib, as if he were talking to a child.

  “You don’t understand. How could you?” She didn’t pull away, but she wanted to. She wanted to hide her embarrassment from him.

  “How could I because I’m older and have no idea of what it’s like to have a family to support who depends on you? How could I because I have no idea how much it means for you to succeed on your own? That you need to succeed to prove to yourself and the world that you are a strong, capable woman.” He smiled softly and her heart clenched in her chest.

  “Have you been reading my mind while I’m sleeping?” She ducked her head as her eyes sparkled like the sea as tears filled them.

  Silas cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her head back so that she had to look him in the eyes. “I don’t have to read your thoughts, Merri. I know you.” He placed his hand on her heart. “I know what is in here. It’s why I love you. Why I’ve always loved you.”

  A fat tear rolled down her cheek and he wiped it away. “And that’s why I came when you asked me to.” She chewed her bottom lip as she fought to control her emotions. “You see me more clearly than I see myself.”

  “We’re all more than capable of trying to fool ourselves.” He turned his attention to the shoreline and scoured it as he let go of her hand. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Not really. Not unless you can conjure up a man for Keely. But not by glamouring one.” She waved her hand at Silas as he turned an enquiring eye in her direction. “Forget I said anything.”

  “I don’t forget anything,” Silas replied as he grunted and closed his hand around a small object.

  “I know. That’s what worries me.” She tensed her jaw, reminding herself that Silas would never betray her confidence. Their relationship meant more to him than that.

  “I always thought Keely would make a great mom. She is a nurturer. And any man would be lucky to have her as a wife. Even if she is a little headstrong after being on her own for so long.” Silas straightened up, his smile fading as he met Merri’s frosty expression. “You don’t think she’s headstrong?”

  “Of course she is headstrong and fiercely independent, but you say it like it’s a bad thing.” Merri put her hands on her hips as her eyes bore into Silas.

  “It’s not a bad thing.” He held out a wish stone to her. “But it takes a special man to not be threatened by a strong woman.”

  “A special man?” Her brows knitted together as the sun sank lower on the horizon, casting Silas in its ruddy glow. Which was more than a little unnerving.

  “Yes, the kind of man who would challenge her on every level. Keely is a powerful witch, she’s smart and driven. How would she ever be happy with a man who isn’t her equal?” Silas reached for Merri’s hand and opened it before dropping the wish stone in her palm. “Make a wish.”

  Merri stared down at the stone in her hand. Silas was right. Keely deserved a special man. As she stepped toward the ocean, she closed her hand tightly around the stone. Silas had given her the wish stone, he probably expected her to wish her business plans came to fruition.

  However, work and business were not the most important things in the world.

  That was love. Love in all its guises.

  But there was one love she wanted to celebrate. One love she wished she could share with her sister. Merri would rather the business failed if it meant that Keely could find that special someone Silas described.

  As she held the stone tightly, she cast a glance over her shoulder toward the man she had given her heart to. His eyes reflected the last rays of the sun as darkness claimed the world. How many times as a young girl had she stood on this beach and wished she would find the man of her dreams?

/>   She’d thought she’d found true love when she married Tim. But she’d been wrong. Silas was her true love. The man of her dreams.

  “I love you.” A small smile flitted across her lips as she turned away from him.

  With the wish stone in her hand, she summoned her magic and muttered a love spell before she closed her eyes and made a wish.

  Pulling her arm back, she swung it forward, launching the stone into the air. It arced across the ocean before landing with a satisfying plop.

  For a long moment, Merri didn’t move, she simply stood and stared at the exact spot the stone had landed. The ocean rose, swelling as waves headed for the shore just as her heart swelled with love.

  A cold hand on her shoulder pulled her back to the beach and the sand beneath her feet. “Come on, we should walk back.”

  She blinked, unseeing for a moment. Her mind had drifted elsewhere as if she were in a trance. As she’d stared at the ocean, a beast had appeared, all fangs and claws, with a thick silver-tinged coat as it swallowed the wish stone.

  But that had been in her head. Perhaps conjured up by the part of her that was afraid she would fail at expanding the business. Her dreams devoured by an unknown beast.

  “Are you trying to get rid of me?” she asked as they walked hand in hand back to the car.

  “No, I’d rather stay here with you,” Silas confessed.

  “But you do have business elsewhere tonight?” Merri asked.

  “I do.” He looked toward the distant mountains. “I have to go to Firsty Fangs.” Silas cringed every time he spoke the name of the local bar that was a favorite vampire haunt.

  “I thought you weren’t too welcome there.” Merri, like most of the townsfolk, had never been to the bar where most of the vampires in Wishing Moon Bay hung out at night. “I thought you didn’t fit in.”

  “I’m not. I don’t... But I’m trying to head off trouble before it begins.” He pressed his lips into a pale thin line. “I don’t know whether you’ve heard but the leader of the Shadow Moon wolf pack died.”

  “What does that have to do with the vampires?”

  “Don’t get me started,” Silas groaned. “Vampires and wolves have a long history of not getting along. Centuries ago, they were constantly at each other’s throats.”

  “Funny.” Merri wasn’t sure if Silas had intended it as a pun or not, he seemed serious and that was unnerving.

  “Thankfully, they called a truce and learned to coexist. However, there are always rumblings of trouble when the pack leader dies.”

  “Why?” Merri had never delved too deep into the history of vampires. Or wolf shifter packs, for that matter. Most of the shifters in town simply blended in with everyone else. There was a strict no-pack-behavior rule in Wishing Moon Bay. The authority wouldn’t stand for any particular group trying to take over the town or even a section of it.

  “The Shadow Moon pack is an ancient pack. They existed long before the protection spell was cast. Unlike some of the modern packs that spring up, the Shadow Moon pack leader exerts control over the other pack members. His word is law.”

  “Really?” Merri was certainly getting an education in pack lore this evening.

  “Really. For the last couple of hundred years, each pack leader has sworn to keep the peace between wolves and vampires. But I heard a rumor that things might be about to change.” He climbed the steps to the parking lot where they had met earlier. Merri didn’t want to say goodbye. She liked being in his company.

  She also didn’t want Silas to get himself mixed up in any kind of turf war between wolves and vampires.

  “The new pack leader wants to start trouble with the vampires?” Merri asked.

  “It depends on who the new pack leader is.”

  “Who gets to choose?”

  “The old pack leader usually takes his successor under his wing and teaches him, or her, the necessity to keep the peace. However, the wolf who is next in line, Clancy, left town years ago. No one has seen or heard from him in all that time.” Silas shrugged. “He might be dead for all we know.”

  “Why did he leave?” Merri asked.

  “To keep the peace. There was some trouble. Somebody died and Clancy took the blame. The old pack leader refused to exile him and so he left anyway.” Silas tilted his head to one side as if he were listening to something. Then he smiled at Merri, his expression softening. “Normally, I’d stay out of things. If there was a war, I’d look after myself.”

  “But things have changed.” She cupped his face in her hands. “You have changed.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her lips. “I have allowed myself to care for the first time in centuries. Looking after myself isn’t enough anymore.”

  “Do you regret opening your heart to mere mortals?” She half-expected him to brush her question aside with a mocking comment.

  “No. Not for one moment.” He kissed her cheek, locked eyes with her for one long, lingering moment, and then melted into the darkness, leaving her alone with only the cool memory of his lips on hers.

  Chapter Three – Keely

  “I’m heading into the store early this morning,” Keely announced as she grabbed a piece of toast from the plateful Merri was busily buttering. “I’d like to make another batch of candles just to make sure we don’t run short.”

  Merri glanced up nervously as she stuck the knife into the butter. “You don’t think we have enough? We can hardly move in the store as it is for all the stock.”

  “I know. But we want to be prepared for if you get some big orders.” Keely bit into her toast, noting Merri’s concern. “And if we don’t sell them in the world beyond, we can have a sale or something at the store. Buy one, get one half price. That kind of thing always attracts people through the door. They love a bargain and often end up buying something else.”

  Merri let out a long breath and scraped the knife over the toast. “You’re right. And even if sales to stores in the world beyond do go well, we could still do a buy one, get one half price offer in town to drum up more business.”

  “You shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket,” Jared said through a mouthful of toast he’d smeared with strawberry jam, which had transferred to his cheek and then to his sleeve.

  “You’re right,” Keely said. “We should try to expand the business in all directions.”

  “The walls of the store will have to expand in all directions if you make too many more candles.” Merri chuckled as she buttered the last piece of toast, but her smile faded when she saw Jared’s sticky mess. “You’ll have to go change. You are messier now than when you were a baby.”

  Jared examined his sleeve and for a moment it looked as if he was going to lick the jam off the fabric, but then he caught his mom’s eye and simply grinned sheepishly at her. “I’ll change when I have finished eating.”

  “At least you are at the table and eating.” Merri went to the bottom of the stairs and called, “Brigette. You’ll be late for school if you don’t get a move on.”

  “Coming,” Brigette yelled in reply before her door opened and slammed shut.

  “My mornings used to be so calm and quiet.” Keely grabbed another piece of toast and kissed Merri on the cheek before she headed out the door.

  “Are we too much?” Merri hugged herself as she hurried after Keely.

  Keely’s brows knitted together as she shook her head and nearly choked on toast crumbs. “No,” she finally replied. “I love having you here. I was a lonely old spinster with only Mr. Toad to keep me company until you came back to town.” As if summoned by his mistress, Keely’s cat, Mr. Toad, appeared from under a shrub and wound himself around her legs.

  “Are you sure?” Merri’s concern lined her face. When she moved back to town, she had nowhere else to go other than to move back into the family home. Her finances would never have stretched to renting a place of her own. At least not anywhere big enough for Merri and two children.

  Now, however, things were different. Sh
e had Silas and Silas lived in a mansion with plenty of empty rooms. Had he asked Merri to move in with him?

  “Yes, I’m sure.” She paused. “Unless you want to move out. I mean don’t stay just for me. If there’s somewhere else you would rather live...”

  “Where else would we live?” Merri asked

  “I wasn’t sure if you and Silas were planning... He has that big house and it’s all empty and in need of life being breathed back into it.” She shrugged. “I’m just saying, don’t stay because of me but don’t go because of me.”

  Merri cracked a smile and rushed forward to hug her sister. “Thanks for clearing that up.”

  “You know what I’m trying to say. This is your house, too. For as long as you need it.” Keely inhaled deeply and rolled her shoulders back. “I am going to grab a coffee on the way into the store. Shall I buy us a cake, too?”

  “Yes, please. Something sinful.” Merri backed toward the house at the sound of Brigette’s voice. She was accusing Jared of some small misdemeanor. “Very sinful.”

  “I’ll pick the most sinful calorie-laden cake there is,” Keely promised and turned her back on the house she had lived in since she was born. The sound of a minor family drama followed her down the street, but not for one minute did she rejoice in not being a parent.

  “Keely!” She jumped as Jeremy greeted her brightly, his smile wide as he slowed and then stopped in front of her.

  “Morning, Jeremy.” Keely forced a smile as Jeremy gazed at her as if she were the last cupcake on a plate. She really needed to eat something sugary sweet even if it was only eight thirty in the morning.

  “May I say how beautiful you look this morning?” He leaned forward an inch or two and inhaled deeply. “And your scent? Is that patchouli?”

  Keely ran her hand over her hair. “Yes, it is.” The smell of cinnamon candles survived two washes with her favorite shampoo and Keely had settled for misting herself with her favorite perfume before bed last night.