Page 30 of Monsters of Mayhem

“They do,” Eunice said, “but sometimes things happen even in the supernatural world and people don’t make it out alive.”

“Let me know when one of those things is going on so I can be sure to avoid it completely,” I said.

“You need to be careful with where you’re at,” she said. “You have a monster for a mate and something’s after you, so all of that needs to be addressed.”

“What exactly is a coven going to do?” I asked as they made their way around the room, mumbling little prayers and burning sage.

“Right now, they’re clearing the space,” Eunice said. “That’s Lady Albright, the leader of the coven.” She pointed to the oldest lady.

“Are you going to help us or is it just us doing it?” The old witch of the group said.

“I’m going to explain things to Caroline so she’s not completely freaked out by everything we’re doing,” Eunice said. “Don’t worry, you’ll have my magic.”

“Just like you used ours,” the old lady said. I glanced between the two of them. They were in the same coven, but clearly there was a little issue between the two of them they weren’t necessarily addressing.

“So, they’re going to clear the space and then we’re going to look at your lines and find out exactly what’s wrong in your world.” Lady Albright explained.

“The creatures that attacked me were burning and now I’ve got a hellhound,” I said, motioning to Bale, who lay lazily in the corner doing absolutely nothing except looking like he wanted to take twenty naps. “It seems they were demons that attacked me.”

The sage in the air had been used to clear the space when the coven gathered around in a circle. I glanced around, feeling surrounded, but I didn’t dare move. Bale picked his head up and glanced at me, but I could tell by his lack of interest I wasn’t in particular danger.

“We’re the Albright coven,” the thirty-something witch said. “My name is Tara. Tara Albright.”

“You’re related to Lady Albright?” I asked.

“My mom,” Tara said.

“The leadership of the coven lands on the first Albright heir,” Eunice explained.

“I’ve learned everything I need to know from her and Eunice. Even if they don’t always get along.” Tara gave me a wink. “We all seem to resolve our differences in the end. We felt your magic being pulled from us earlier. Did Eunice make you invisible?”

“Do you know I was turned into a wooden statue for the night?” I asked. Tara looked at me sideways but shook her head.

“No,” she said. “When we use our individual magic, it doesn’t happen to the coven, so we were unaware. The minute she made you invisible it became obvious to all of us. Now what we need to do is find out who’s creating the problem for you. If we can find that out, then we can stop it.”

All the witches exchanged a look, but it was only Tara who shook her head. “When you guys came home last night, Eunice called us and we all got together to investigate some of the situation‘s around what you’re talking about. We knew she had you hidden but she wouldn’t tell us where. Once we found out you were Ryder’s ex-wife, we did some magic spells to reveal. That told us a lot. It told us how he felt about you, and what he was trying to do and there’s no way he’s creating the problems in your life.”

“How can you be sure?” I asked.

“She has the gift of sight,” Eunice explained.

Tara spoke with deep earnestness. “Ryder loves you. He would never so much as attack you. In fact, he’s doing everything possible to protect you.”

“He locked me up inside a tower,” I said. “If that’s what you mean by protecting me.”

“We understand the ways of the supernatural world are very different from the ways of the human world. You must remember he’s a monster. He’s not even fae or a witch. He’s going to operate on a certain amount of monster chaos. Then, of course, he’s a demigod, and demigods think they rule the known universe. Which, well, in many ways they kind of do. At least they rule New Attica. You’ve got a couple of issues at hand that need to be dealt with. You must know he’s not trying to hurt you at all. He truly loves you.”

“Ryder loves me?” I asked, feeling the pit of my stomach flip around inside my body and my heart race.

All the witches in the coven started laughing. “How could you not know Ryder loves you,” Tara asked. “I mean, we understand humans are often, you know, unaware of the supernatural world, but you aren’t so dumb about matters of the heart, are you? He did marry you, didn’t he?”

“I suppose so,” I murmured.

“He’s never been with another woman since he was with you.” She shrugged.

“How do you know this?” I asked. “Are you interested in him?”

At this Tara laughed. “Me? Interested in a demigod, no,” she said. “No, not at all. I have a husband. He’s a warlock. We’ve been together since I was in high school.”

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