Page 1 of Touch Of Fate
Chapter One
Mara
It would be so easy to love him. He’s cute. His light brown hair is shaggy and occasionally falls into his eyes. It makes a woman want to brush it back lovingly. Cameron is a professor at a local college, so he’s intelligent, stable, and nice. He gives get-nasty-with-teacher vibes, and his low, rumbly voice helps with that fantasy.
“Busy today?” he asks as he browses the educational section of the bookstore.
“Not really,” I reply, staring at him. I wish I could feel anything but friendship. He’s been coming into the store since we opened a few months ago. I understand loving books, but his visits are excessive. A woman knows when a man wants to ask her out but doesn’t know how or if she feels the same way. He’s perceptive. Besides not being attracted to him in the way I should be, he’s not meant to be mine.
How do you tell a human that you are a witch? I think he would be more open to it than most. He’s a history professor, and I’m sure witches are in the material somewhere. But I haven’t said anything about my heritage. Where would I start, and what would be the purpose?
“I think I’ll take this one today,” he says, dropping a thick book on the counter. It’s about some war, and I lose interest. Life is filled with enough anger and pain; I don’t want to read about it.
“We need to get you a punch card. Buy twenty books, the twenty-first is free.”
He laughs as if I am funny. Shit, I shouldn't give him any more reasons to like me.
“I would use it.”
I can feel his eyes moving over my face and to my gloved hands as I check him out and bag his book.
“Here you go,” I say brightly, a friendly-but-not-too-friendly smile on my face.
“Thanks, Mara,” he says softly and steps back. He pauses, and I rush to say something to stop the words he wants to say. For some reason, he apparently decided today would be the day he asked me out. My magic has nothing to do with my assumption; my instinct as a woman is firing.
“Thanks for the business. Have a good one.” My smile dims, and I look at the one other customer in the store.
“Yeah,” he mumbles, and I look back at him as he opens the door.
I feel like a bitch, but I don’t stop him. I can’t encourage him.
Witches can bond with anyone, but they have to call to our soul. Of course, it’s easier to be destined to bond with another witch or warlock. Having a human call to your soul can become complicated. If they know nothing about magic, you have to take on the task of informing them of our kind. The bond should help them believe, but nothing is guaranteed. Our magic is the one who decides. We have one soul bond with whom we will be with forever, but it is up to the pair to decide to complete the bond. If one or both reject the bond, their lives will go on, but they will feel as if they are incomplete, and their magic may become unstable as the years pass. You only get one soul bond, so it’s not recommended to deny them. The world is filled with creatures. Most humans don’t know of our existence. If they did, chaos would ensue. We would be hunted, studied, and feared. The one law for all the supernatural is never to reveal your true self unless they are your mate or bonded pair. Of course, some do find out. Usually, it ends in disaster and death.
Witches like to stay in the background and hide more than others. Shifters like to live with others like them. Any animal in the human world could be a shifter in ours. Vampires are usually solitary creatures, preferring to live in small communities of others like them, but there are exceptions. In Oregon, there is a family of shifters and vampires who are friends and protect each other. It’s unusual to find all kinds interacting together in such a way. They have fated mates who call to their animal. Unlike witches, they can have more than one mate at a time. Some thrive on sharing a mate and living in a group.
They have fated mates; we have soul bonds. It’s basically the same thing, but they rely on their senses to smell their mate. The shifter's animal urges them to mate and complete the bond. They thrive on the physical touch of their mates. The female will automatically go into heat, and the only way to ease it is to havesex with their mate. They are part animal, and well…they are ruled by their animal instinct. Witches are drawn to the magic of another, and it pulls us to them. Once we meet them, our magic pushes us to be with them, but we don’t go into heat. Not that we won’t desire our soul bond, yet having sex isn’t necessary to complete the bond. Our magic will guide us. Some witches don’t fully come into their power until they meet their bond.
I have not needed a bond to have my magic.
“Did you brush him off again?” Lace asks, leaning against the entrance to the back of the store. Her black hair has streaks of blue through the strands, which she has piled on the top of her head.
I sigh and turn. “You know I had to.”
“Why? It wouldn’t hurt to have some fun.” She smiles softly.
“Sure,” I scoff. Fun has never been part of my life.
“I’m sorry.” She looks at my hands.
“No need to be sorry.” I leave the counter. “Will you watch the front? I have some books to put away.” She moves toward me and nods. “Thanks, hon.”
“Of course.” Her smile turns sad when she lifts her hand to touch me, but she remembers before she makes contact. “I don’t have a client for a couple of hours. Take your time.” Dropping her hand, she takes my place.
I escape to the back of the store, stopping by the back shelves. Lace is my sister. She convinced me to move to Idaho and open a bookstore. She lived in Oregon and had a store there, but it was destroyed. She rebuilt, but the bad memories forced her to relocate. I’ve done many things to protect my sister, bad things, but doing this was the easiest one. Her magic allows her to make ink for tattoos. Shifters heal quickly and require special ink so the tattoos won’t heal as the needle is inserted. She gives that service in the back of the store, but she also has human clients. I love books and tattoos, so it wasn’t a hardship to go intobusiness with her. We've only had each other for most of our lives, and I love her desperately. I allowed her to name the place; she thought it was cute to call it Ink The Page.
There are five boxes of inventory to put away. I drop to my knees beside them but don’t open them. Leaning my elbows on top of the first one, I study my hands. The only time I don’t wear my gloves is when I’m alone. It gets old having to lie when customers ask why I wear them. Most just stare, and I see the questions they don’t voice. When I touch another's skin, I see their life. Not just what they ate for lunch or if they were happy. I feel their emotions and memories, the good and the horrible things they have done. I experience their life as if I lived it. I don’t have nightmares while I’m sleeping; they happen when I’m awake.
Witches and warlocks are born with a baseline of power. Most of us can do protection spells, affect lights, move things, make fire, and do a location spell. We don’t have a spellbook that we study or say certain words when practicing our magic. As we grow and practice our gifts, our power grows too. The spells are in our souls and our minds. It’s our will and intention that brings magic to life. All witches have a wide variety of powers, but we have one aspect of magic that is more of our specialty. Mine is the power of touch. I can find someone by holding an item they wore or touching someone close to them. Some who found out what I can do took advantage of it, forcing me to participate in horrible things. They can also torture me by making me touch those who are suffering.
