Page 53 of A Touch Charmed

I took a seat on the couch and pulled Thora onto my lap. When she let out a happy sigh and snuggled against me, just like Audrey had with Wes not too long ago, another chamber in my heart settled. This was how we were supposed to be. This was how it always should’ve been.

At the knock on the door, I reluctantly moved Thora off of me and sped to the door to answer it. Donovan followed me into the living room. Sandy let out a bark and wagged her tail, running ahead to jump onto one of the couches and make herself at home. Wes would love that.

Violet trailed behind us looking downright miserable. No one liked being pulled out of bed in the middle of the night, but I had a feeling there was a little more going on than that. Donovan glanced over his shoulder and looked right through her as if she wasn’t there. Though I was surprised Donovan could see anything at all with how far he had his head up his ass.

Violet’s big blue eyes clouded with hurt for a beat. One that I only caught because my speed was still dialed up a notch. In a blink, it was gone. She straightened her spine and marched into the living room, taking a seat on the leather recliner.

She always had been a lot tougher than people gave her credit for.

Oblivious to Violet’s mood, Donovan gave Thora a grin and plopped down next to her. “Good to see you again. You’ve been pretty tucked away on the other side of the island.” He gave me a sly grin. “Lots of catching up, I imagine.”

I sat on Thora’s other side and slung an arm over her shoulder, pulling her tight against me. “We’ve been hopping around, digging holes. You know. Stuff rabbits do.”

She elbowed me in the ribs and I let out a laugh.

Donovan chuckled and glanced at Violet, as if it were a habit to share private jokes with her, then looked away and frowned. “Heard you two had a wild night.”

Thora stretched her arms over her head like a contented cat. “I’ve had wilder.”

“She’s not lying.” I leaned forward. “You should’ve seen what she was wearing the first night I climbed through her wind—”

She flung a hand over my mouth to shut me up.

Violet completely ignored Donovan as she began to ask Thora what she’d been up to since she got home and questions about Boston. Not the prying, annoying questions that a lot of residents asked when they wanted something to gossip about. Nothing overly familiar. She just treated her with the gentle curiosity of catching up with an old acquaintance.

We made small talk for a minute, fully aware of the tension between Donovan and Violet. There had been no mistaking the way Donovan had looked at her at the festival, but it looked like he was still being a stubborn ass and throwing away their friendship for reasons that went beyond me. They didn’t come much better than Violet. There were plenty of guys on the island who openly pursued her with the intention of eventually proposing. If he didn’t make his move soon, he’d end up losing her.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Wes and Audrey came out of their bedroom, a golden green light glowing between them. Both of them looked a lot more relaxed than they had on the way over here. Though he still kept her firmly at his side.

“Thanks for coming over so late.” Wes nodded to Donovan and Violet. His lips thinned when he caught Sandy curled up on his leather couch, but as long as she didn’t chew on it, he’d let it pass. “The curse is getting stronger and we’ve got a lot of shit we need to figure out.”

Wes took a seat on the opposite couch, pulling Audrey onto him. I had a feeling he wouldn’t be letting her out of his sight for a while. Just watching Thora get ripped open as she healed Audrey made me want to take her to bed and never let her go again, even knowing she could heal on her own. I didn’t blame him one bit for keeping Audrey glued to his side like that. And she’d let him, because she knew it was exactly what he needed.

“I can’t do anything about those who haven’t used their powers yet, and I don’t think we have to worry about them either,” Wes said. “The curse only has a limited amount of energy right now, and it only goes after threats. It’s threatened by magic.”

“We know who the Leo is now.” When everyone swung their gaze to Thora, she tensed beside me and cleared her throat. “That’s the update Finn texted you about earlier.”

Audrey sat up straighter. “Who is it?”

“It’s Kenna Everett.” Her voice sounded raw, like it took something from her to share the next part with so many people at once. I pushed my energy into her, a light blue wind, soothing where she needed it. “Warren Chase isn’t my birth father. Dante Everett was.”

“Oh, wow. That explains your connection to Jocelyn too.” Audrey’s brows pinched together in concern, but she hesitated before speaking. Probably because she knew Thora didn’t like people prying into her life any more than she did. “How are you doing?”

Thora shrugged. That was the whole of it, wrapped up in that one gesture. If Warren Chase had made any effort to be even a half-assed stepfather, she might’ve felt something more. He could’ve had a daughter, regardless of blood. And he had no clue what he had missed out on.

“Why didn’t she say anything about the first earthquake?” Wes frowned as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It doesn’t seem like Kenna to keep that quiet for this long.”

“She still wouldn’t admit it. I didn’t want to push when I’d already dropped the cousin thing on her.” Thora fidgeted as the rough edge of discomfort came through her energy. She didn’t like saying things about Kenna behind her back, even if it was information everyone here needed to know. “It’s her though. I think it freaks her out.”

“I’ll talk to her. I’ll be at Leo’s tomorrow anyway.” Violet glanced at Donovan and looked away quickly. “I have a date.”

A muscle ticked in Donovan’s jaw, barely visible beneath the beard. Otherwise, he gave no indication that Violet’s date affected him at all. The dude was a statue.

“This is good news.” Audrey clapped her hands together as if that would help clear out the awkward energy from the room. “Knowledge always helps. And I’m sure Galen has been dying to experiment with his magic, whatever it is.”

He might’ve been dying to use his magic, but I very much doubted he want to use it with Kenna. Of all the people he could’ve matched with… I was beginning to think fate wanted to make this hard on all of us on purpose. Like battling the curse wasn’t enough.

Wes turned to Violet. “If talking to Kenna doesn’t work, tell her we’ll make Galen touch her in the middle of her shift. Then everyone in the bar can find out what kind of magic she has. I can’t stress enough how soon we need her to accept this.”

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