Whatever Knox was, he was evil. He held the kind of power creatures either craved or ran from. It had taken everything within me to keep him out of my head. Every wall I’d slammed up, he’d battered down. I’d felt him touching me without his hands upon my flesh. I’d felt his lust, his need to dominate and savage me as he’d lowered his own walls to bust through mine. He’d been too busy searching my mind even to notice I was in his, staring at a fortified crypt in his mind with more defenses than any bank vault known to mankind. Whatever he was, I was damn sure going to figure it out and bring the man to his knees.
My door opened, and the girls poured through, searching the room before eyeing the curtains that still moved from his sudden escape. Black feathers covered the floor, and my body was covered in red welts, which would bruise before morning.
“What the hell happened?” Sabine asked.
“Knox is immune to the house’s defenses. He was in here,” I uttered hoarsely.
“Were you doing things?” Callista asked carefully.
“He was throwing me around a bit if that is what you mean.” I pulled the blankets over my body and shivered violently. “The house didn’t even sense him, or that I was in danger.”
“That’s a fucking problem,” Luna snapped angrily. “That needs to be remedied.”
“He’s immune to my magic,” I continued. “He isn’t like us; he isn’t like any of us.”
“Witches?” Callista clarified.
“No, I mean all of us. All the original families are susceptible to each other’s powers. Knox didn’t blink when I cast magic on him. He didn’t fucking budge. I don’t think he’s one of us, and worse, I think he knows more than we do about what happened to Amara, and I intend to find out everything he knows. There’s also the fact that I am susceptible to it around him. His witch was able to cast on me, and I’ve always been immune to all magic except for those who share our bloodline.”
“You’re saying that around him, you’re not immune to magic?”
“That’s exactly what I am saying. It’s like he’s my kryptonite.”
Chapter 9
I stood in the crumpled, wilted, and very inadequate herb garden that sat behind the mansion. It was another glaring sign that Amara had been gone more than a few weeks. Her room had been pristine, and that wasn’t like her at all. I was the OCD clean freak; she was the messy one.
I’d skimmed over her wardrobe, picking out a few things to borrow since we were the same size, and also because Aurora hadn’t sent the truck with our clothes or household items, and we had no running water. Pushing my fingers into the soil, I fed life to plants until the garden bloomed with fresh herbs and the air scented of their mixed aromas.
Grabbing the water bucket, I moved down the wide creek that gurgled deep into the large, opulent backyard. Most families had miles and miles of luxury that covered their property, but we had nature. Witches preferred nature, needing it to draw magic from. The alpha wolves, well, they too had nature, but they used it to turn beneath the full moon. As a child, Luna and Aine could join the young male wolves to run freely, protected beneath the moon.
Bending down at the deepest part of the creek, I filled the bucket with water and then frowned when the heated water touched my hand. I stared at the creek before slowly looking around the thickly covered terrain, blocking anyone else’s view with the greenery and dense vegetation.
Slowly walking back to the garden, I poured the bucket into the trench I’d dug and set it aside, retrieving dried herbs I’d picked to use tonight. Dusting off my hands, I started toward the house silently. Inside, I collected a few items and made the trek back to the creek.
I stripped down to my panties and headed toward the water with the shampoo and conditioner I’d made, gently setting them down on the flat rock that sat in the creek, pushing water in two different directions toward the adjoining properties. Pulling my panties off inside the water was tricky, but I managed it before tossing the wet undies toward the pile of clothes on the muddy bank.
The sky above me was crystal blue without a cloud in the sky. Birds chirped all around me as I soaked in the water. I leaned against the rock, resting my arms on it as I watched the house, knowing eventually, someone else would discover my little oasis, and then everyone would be in the creek, bathing with me.
Having fifteen sisters meant having nothing that was actually yours alone. Not that it bothered me; quite the opposite. I didn’t have to deal with friends flaking off on me, because my friends were my sisters. I just enjoyed the solitude of being alone every once in a while. I dipped beneath the water, coming up with a bubble of laughter in my throat as a memory of Amara and me playing in the creek surfaced.
We’d spent a lot of time away from the others, craving the solitude that was elusive with the fourteen other girls around us. We’d spent countless hours down here, making mud pies, or mud shakes that we’d pretended were crafted from the finest bakeries in the Nine Realms.
She’d always wanted to be a chef or to own a bakery. In contrast, I’d wanted a bookstore that sold tonics and potions on the side, with the most extensive crystal collection in this realm. We’d made plans to save up for both, only we’d never invested our money into anything, because the moment we’d deposited into our account, Freya had taken it for the joint account we all could draw from. We hadn’t been allowed to dream, not if anything we wanted wasn’t with the others.
Reaching for the shampoo, I lathered my hair, inhaling the rose-scented herbs to calm my nerves from the last few days. I rinsed it out, following it with the homemade conditioner. After that, I used the soap, slowly rubbing it over my body as my eyes slipped closed. Then oceanic eyes filled my mind, forcing my eyes to open wide in horror. That wasn’t happening, I told my subconscious. Not in a million years.
Something moved in the bushes, and I turned, staring at where the leaves rustled from being disturbed. I searched them for a few minutes, watching the other bushes deeper within it for any more disturbances.
“Is someone there?” I asked, waiting for whoever it was to move again. I didn’t expect an answer, but I figured they would have to keep moving to escape the yard. I slipped deeper into the water until it fully concealed my body, with only my chin sticking out as my heartbeat hitched and raced faster.
My hands covered my breasts while I stared into the brush, waiting for whoever was in them to hightail it out of there. I sent magic searching, parting shrubbery while I mentally searched without leaving the water. My magic sensed no presence, finding nothing larger than a bird that sat on a branch within the thicket. I spun around to place the soap onto the rock when feet came into view. My gaze landed on the black Doc Martin boots and slowly lifted until they locked with ocean-blue eyes.
“Brave, bathing naked out here, alone,” he muttered, crouching down to pick up the bottle of soap, opening the cap to sniff it. “Are you pretending to be a water nymph? Or a sprite?” he asked before closing the lid to look at me. “Which one are you today, Aria?”
“Get the hell off my land, Knox.”
“Why would I do that? I own this entire town. So technically, I own your property too. Not to mention, you’re causing quite the commotion with your scent. I just saved you from being eaten by a wolf, little lamb.”