The Seer (Chapter 15)

Chapter 15

 

Javier sat in a dark corner of the bar, watching. His wife and sisters were completely oblivious to him. That was probably because they were drunk. He was pretty sure his wife probably knew he was there and was just ignoring him by dancing and taking shots. She was drinking a lot, like the night he convinced her to get his name tattooed on her neck. A few females approached him; apparently not wanting to be bothered made him appear mysterious. The last thing he was interested in was another woman. He was watching the one woman he wanted desperately but had to keep his distance from.

Mackenzie looked so edible tonight and he had to restrain himself from going over and dragging her to the bed in his motel room. He’d gotten a room just so he could stay out here all night, until she went back to the farm. And the thought of driving back tonight was too exhausting. The little piece of material she called a skirt hung so low on her hips that the stars and moon pattern tattooed below her belly button was showing. And that top stopped a good six inches above her belly button. He had to admit his wife was sexy and the boots she wore that stopped at her thighs, they really made him want to go to her. If only he was allowed to speak to her or touch her. Causing a scene, he reminded himself, was a very bad idea. Lost in thought about Mackenzie distracted him long enough that he almost didn’t smell Tyson approaching.

“Don’t start with me demon, I’m not in the mood,” he growled. All he wanted to do was watch his wife; he did not feel like fighting.

“I was going to tell you that I never had any interest in her,” Tyson said.

“Sit down, you’re going to draw attention to me,” Javier said.

“I’m trying to make things right with you,” Tyson said after he took a seat. “Maybe we need some boundaries; I don’t want an issue with you. There is no need to worry that I would ever do anything with your wife. That day I came to her I’d just gotten out of the shower I didn’t have time to dress properly.”

“Don’t apologize; you can’t really have boundaries with a gypsy. And I do know my wife would never cheat, she’s not like that. But I suppose I was mostly just bothered because you are the type of man she should be with,” Javier said.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I’m just saying ideally you are the type of man my wife should be with. And I can see why Maddox wanted you together before. Once I was that type of man honorable, loyal, trust worthy, I protected her and loved her. Now I’m different and my life is mostly about violence and she doesn’t need that. I’m, thinking its karma, I did all these regrettable things and now my wife hates me. And I’ve been reduced to watching her dance from the shadows like a stalker,” he said. He downed his glass of whisky and signaled for another. It took a lot to get him drunk and he wasn’t sure if he would do it tonight or not, he was getting pretty close.

“She will forgive you, not everything is a result of something we’ve done. Just give her some time,” Tyson said.

“Mackenzie will forgive me because she feels she has to for the children and for her duty to the pack and the family, not because I deserve it. I do not deserve it; I don’t want her forgiveness anymore. She will remember that night for the rest of her life and she will never fully trust me again. The right thing to do is to let her live the rest of her life without me,” he said and finished another drink.

“Javier, you aren’t saying what I think you’re saying, are you?” Tyson asked in disbelief.

“You know my father always got whatever he wanted no matter what. Everything except one thing,” he said and tipped his glass towards Mackenzie. “I took her from him, the one thing I wanted most in the world and coincidently so did he.”

“You aren’t making any sense,” Tyson said with concern in his voice.

“I’m not drunk it that’s what you think, just stating a fact. He wanted her and was waiting for the right time to take her as his mistress, but I was watching her. After she was gone he had a raging fit, and I vowed to my sisters I would find her. It’s pretty screwed up for her to marry the son of the man that stole 11 years of her life,” he paused to finish his drink. “Anyway I was thinking that just like my father I ruined her life. Why should she have to worry what I might do next? Or wonder if she is safe in her own home, that’s not right.

“Neither was me finding her and bringing her back here. We were just so use to having her that we all were selfish, most of my family wanted her back. She was miserable for a very long time even though she pretended not to be and she was depressed, nobody ever really acknowledged that. We treated her like family because that’s what she was to us, but every one of us including her knew the truth. So the right thing would have been to leave her alone once I found her happy with her real family. But I was weak and couldn’t stay away from her.”

Tyson looked stunned by his words, but it was all true. Mackenzie spent her life having to deal with choices other people made for her. Her mother gave her up to protect her, Richard took her to replace his child, Zenis took her to be selfish, Eden took her back to rescue her and he took her to be his wife. It was so selfish to bring her back, especially when all he did for the last five years was make her miserable. All those times he would show up to the farm and she would patch him up so they could spend a day together before he was off to fight again. She cried every single time and he knew she cried more when he wasn’t around. What new wife wanted to wait around to see if her husband was murdered?

If he left her alone in the first place she could have been happy. Eventually she’d have gotten over her crush on him and she would have forgotten his family. If he could go back in time and change it, even though it meant he would lose his son, he would. It would have just been the right thing to do, but he was good at making bad choices. And now he’d come full circle, he watched her in secret before and now here he was doing it all over again.

“Did it ever occur to you that all of this was meant to happen? We can’t know if we make one thing different that our whole lives would change. I did not choose my life; if I did I would have been human and stayed with my father. Then I could have married a human and had human children and I would have died. Instead I’m living a long life as a half breed that none of my people want to get close to. With a seer for a wife you have to know that what is meant to be will happen no matter what. She had to suffer so that she could be strong and she was meant to have you, a man who would lay down his life for her. One choice could change things, but the fact is that you would have found each other anyway,” Tyson told him. “I gotta go check around, don’t drown yourself in that stuff; it will get you in trouble. Just think about what I said.”

Left alone with his thoughts, Javier tried to plan his next move. After this wedding he had to break it off permanently with his wife. Then he had to make sure he got Sebastian and Lynn safely out of town he would make his move. Between Mercedes and Jake one of them was going to tell him where Zkar was. And he would kill Zkar himself or die trying. His family didn’t need to know what he had planned, they already suffered enough. Besides what did he have to live for? He’d already lost his wife and kids, so his life didn’t mean much. Somebody else could be Alpha and maybe that person would do the job right.

“Hey,” he heard and looked up to see his wife. Before he could respond she slid into his lap.

“Kenzie what are you doing?”

“I know you’ve been watching me all night and I’m really drunk. And you know I’m horny when I’m drunk,” she said and giggled. Yup she was pretty drunk.

“Weren’t you just yelling at me yesterday? You said you didn’t want us to be together,” he said. He definitely wanted her, badly, but he was trying to be responsible.

“Javi, stop talking and kiss me,” she ordered. How could he say no to that? Especially when she pouted at him, even drunk she knew how to get him to do whatever she wanted.

Against his better judgment he kissed her and he knew he was in trouble. It definitely wasn’t that he didn’t want her, because he definitely did. Making out with her was just leading to making love to her. That would only make walking away harder and he would have to tell her the truth in the morning. She straddled him and she start grinding against him, she was so dangerous to his sanity. After some hardcore, slightly pornographic making out, he gave in. He took her back to his motel room. This would be their last night together. All Javier could hope for was that she wouldn’t hate him too much in the morning.

 

 

I woke up with a massive headache in a strange bed. It was obviously a motel, because there was only one motel close to the bar. I just had no idea how I got there and the fact that I was naked under the blanket didn’t help. Unfortunately every morning I woke up with a stuffy nose so I couldn’t really scent anything. The shower was going so there was someone else was here, but who?

I tried really hard to recall the night before and managed just a few fuzzy details. Dancing, laughing and drinking more than I had in my entire life. Then I remembered a man in a dark corner watching me. The last thing I remembered was having some amazing sex with the man in this bed, until well after dawn. This was bad.

“Oh good Goddess what have I done?” I asked aloud.

How could I do this to my husband? Even if I wasn’t exactly speaking to him, I would never cheat on him or hurt him like this. I respected him way more than this and I did love him. Maybe I didn’t know myself as well as I thought I did, because I’d never have thought I was capable of something like this. My brain was about ready to explode all over the tacky ancient flower wall paper. Then the shower stopped and I think my heart stopped with it. A few seconds later the door knob turned and the door opened. I pulled the blanket tightly around me, even though there was no point he’d seen me naked. Tall, tan, muscled, with wet shoulder length black hair and a towel around his waist. Here was the man I’d been with and he wasn’t a stranger. He was my husband.

“Oh thank the Goddess,” I sighed and fell back on the pillow.

“Something wrong?” Javier asked watching me with a quizzical expression.

“I thought I did something stupid,” I answered without thinking.

“Oh you thought you went home with another man and had a one night stand. Sorry to disappoint you, love, it was me,” he said. Something was off about him, I could feel it and he was so guarded, he was never that way with me.

“This was a mistake,” I said.

“Indeed,” he replied with no emotion at all. He just started getting dressed like nothing was wrong.

“Javi, I just mean that it was a bad idea when we’re separated and I’m trying to figure things out,” I explained. It didn’t sound any better aloud than it had in my head and he just appeared to be unaffected.

“Mackenzie, I really think you should be at the wedding,” he said. “And I think you need stability in your life, that’s something I can’t give you. Last night it was nice to pretend like everything was normal, but its not and you don’t want to be with me. Maybe you feel that I took advantage of you because you were drunk and I knew it, I just have never really been able to say no to you. After Sebastian and Lynn’s wedding you will be free of me, I just ask that you allow me to see the children.”

“I think I must have heard you wrong. Are you trying to break up with me?” I asked completely stunned. What was going on?

“Well I guess you could say that,” he nodded.

“Javier, you can’t divorce me,” I said feeling slightly angry.

“No I can’t, but I can choose to let you live your own life and find someone else. I love you and I always will but you deserve better,” he said. A sadness showed in his eyes for a second but he pushed it away, I was confused.

“I don’t understand what changed between two days ago and now?”

“Nothing except clarity,” he shrugged. His calm façade was driving me crazy.

“So what this is your out? I told you I didn’t know if I could forgive you so you just end things? You decided that we shouldn’t be together at all because I needed time? And I get no say in this at all right?” I asked furious and hurt, but I was determined not to cry, even though I felt like my heart was ripped out.  

“You said everything already,” he said and sat beside me. “What I did to you I can’t even forgive myself for so I don’t expect you to and I don’t want you to. None of that changes how I feel about you, I love you with all my heart and it’s because I love you that I will let you go. You deserve a lot more than what I’ve given you these past 5 years. There is no reason you should continue to suffer,” he told me.

“Thanks for making up your mind,” I said and got up from the bed. “Where are my clothes?”

“On the chair, I left out a t-shirt if you wanted to wear that instead of that tiny bit of shirt you had on,” he said matter-of-factly.

While I dressed in my skirt and a t-shirt that smelled like him, he made the bed. What the hell was wrong with my husband? He was pissing me off so much I felt my blood starting to heat; I was close to going demon and killing him. Two days ago he was talking about reconciling; he’d been calling me non-stop. Today he wanted nothing to do with me and it was after we spent the night together. That was a knife to the heart. What was that even about? Was all this about sex? That only halfway made sense, maybe he found somebody else.

 I feared what would happen if he stopped calling and trying to get me to talk to him. Yesterday he didn’t call me or text me or do anything. He annoyed me but at least if he kept it up I knew he cared. Had he really lost hope? That was part of the reason I got so drunk, and I saw him there watching me. I was just so desperate for things to go back to normal.

“What is this really about? Did you find a woman better suited to be your alpha female? And what she’s a wolf and a lot less drama than having me around?” I felt both foolish and childish for asking that but I was completely blindsided by him.

“Are you insane?” He asked and he actually laughed. “Mackenzie, I love you and no one could ever take your place beside me or in my bed. I just wanted to do the right thing for once.”

“Good Goddess,” I said sinking back down onto the bed. “You’re tying up loose ends before you go off to fight alone.”

No vision was needed, I knew my husband and this was the type of thing he would do. He blamed himself for this whole thing with Zkar. It should have been my first thought but since I was hung over my brain wasn’t exactly working right. Still, I wanted to kill him.

“What else can I do? I didn’t stop him in the beginning because I thought Zenis deserved to be tormented. Had I done my job Zara wouldn’t be near death, Vince’s neighbor wouldn’t be in the hospital, and Sarah wouldn’t be afraid to go outside. Oh and let’s not forget about Mack’s house, Moon Magic, Leo’s kids being afraid to sleep in their own beds. Should I continue? I ruined this family, Aunt Ruby thinks Uncle Zypher is dead and who knows maybe he is. Zenis has been missing for two days now. It’s way past time for me to put an end to this and I will,” he told me. Finally I got the truth out of him; another woman would have been simpler than a suicide mission.

“Javi, I won’t let you go on a suicide mission,” I told him. “All of this is because of Zenis even if you tried to do something in the beginning you still wouldn’t be able to find him. Do you even care what this will do to Sam, Julia, Jeana, Bella and Noah? The girls have lost so much already and Noah shouldn’t have to grown up without his father. Oh and obviously you don’t give a damn about what it would do t me.”

I got up from the bed again and went to the window. My emotions were churning like a storm over an ocean. My heart ached and I was desperate to rewind time. Theoretically I could spell time but it was unwise considering the unstable and unpredictable nature of my powers and you just didn’t tempt fate like that. But I was so desperate at that moment I might have tried it, I just wanted to keep my family together. I should have known he was spelled that day and I still couldn’t figure out why I didn’t. Unless maybe the witch gave the spell his name so that it only effected him, that made sense. Though I was still upset about the whole thing I never would have left him permanently, no matter what I threatened. He was giving me the opportunity that some women I knew would kill for; I could leave my marriage and finally be free to make 100% of my own choices. While the offer was slightly tempting, I loved my husband to much and I loved our family.

“I’ve been thinking of how you looked at me,” he said suddenly. “After everything happened and I came back from the farm it all hit me. Until them it was like I wasn’t present in my own body at all, but I remember all of it. Especially that look on your face, that’s been haunting me every day since. And if I am capable of any of what I did then I shouldn’t be near you. No, I deserve to die for hurting you like that.”

“Javier we can work through this. No we will work through this. I’m not letting you go off alone and that’s not a suggestion that is an order,” I said. He half smiled at me, nobody gave the Alpha orders, I however did and he would listen to me.

It honestly was really hard for me to stay mad at him, all I wanted to do all week was curl up in his arms while he made everything better. In some ways I suppose I was still like the 5 year old I was when we met and he held me while I cried. Over the last 17 years he did a lot of comforting where I was concerned, so naturally he was the one I always wanted to turn to. The fact that he was suggesting that she move on with her life with someone else, said everything about how truly sorry he was. Wolves were possessive with their mates; they would kill if said mate cheated. And that thought got me thinking about something.

How did Zkar, who never met my husband, know that he had jealousy issues? I knew that wolves were possessive but Javier never acted jealous, even when I went out clubbing with his wild sisters and he knew how guys were very attacked to the group of us. Something was very off about this whole thing and if I hadn’t been too preoccupied I might have realized sooner. I knew my husband and he was never jealous before and Sebastian and Vince both had no idea either. Javier and Sebastian shared a brotherly bond close to the one I shared with Auri, Sebastian would know. Vince and Jared are his 2^nd and 3^rd they would have sensed something. Maybe Javier was spelled more than just the one time with the pictures, it made sense.

So I decided to find out the truth, there was one easy way to do it. What good was being a witch if I couldn’t peer into my husband’s mind and the goings on in his life? I avoided doing this because I trusted my husband. But right now I had to do this to find out if maybe there were things that happened that he didn’t even know about. Slowly I walked back across the room to him.

“What are you doing?” He asked when I straddled his lap.

“Looking for something,” I said.

I covered his ears with my palms, which of course would bother a wolf because it would lessen his ability to hear. But it was easier to do this by touch. A few seconds of concentration and I got what I wanted. The first memory I saw was the night Zenis dropped by and ran off to the farm with Noah. He was deliberately trying to make Javier paranoid about everybody. And I knew why, he wanted his son to depend on and put his trust in him, like he’d planned all of Javier’s life. Next I got the cop that worked my kidnapping case; he was at Javier’s office. If I could have strangled him through the memory I would have. My annoyance almost made me miss the importance of this vision, Officer Kent was spelled. And by spelled I mean he was so spelled that his spell was leaking onto my husband. It was rare to see a spell leak, but not impossible.

To a high level witch spells gave off a glow, for one reason or another low level witches couldn’t really see spells, I of course could. There was a masking spell attached to this spell so that someone like my husband wouldn’t be able to sense the magic. But since the spell still had a signature I knew that though this witch was well practiced she was not a high level witch. That was something at least. All spells carry the signature of the witch who cast them. The only way to mask your signature was to be a high level witch and she was not. A signature came in handy for occasions like this when it was necessary to find the witch who cast the spell.

So on one hand I knew that I was the better witch and I could find the caster. The trouble was that I was raised amongst wolves and not witches, so I didn’t know too many witches. The only witches I knew closely enough to be able to identify their signatures were my family and they certainly didn’t do this. I knew that none of the gypsies in my grandmother’s coven did it because it would be a suicide move. Another fact I was aware of was that this witch practiced dark magic.

Usually I didn’t think of anybody in terms of labeling a whole group as good or bad. My family was living proof with all the different species that you are what you choose to be. People think demons are evil and wolves are vicious beasts and gypsy witches as w****s who can’t hold down jobs. But the truth is humans, witches, wolves, demons and whatever else are all in a grey area. Nobody could be wholly good and innocent, everybody made mistakes and got curious and did things they were told was wrong. Nobody was perfect. By nature we witches are very curious being so especially with young witches they experiment. Every witch has tried less friendly and good natured spells. The difference was that non-permanent and prank type spells was that they were basically harmless. But when you cast permanent harmful life altering spells, you crossed over from curious to dangerous. And some witches got addicted to dark spells and they start hurting people, they were the dangerous ones. These witches tended to be the ones that messed with fate, and that was the most dangerous thing of all.

Very suddenly I was jerked away from my thoughts and analyst of the memory and thrown into another. This one was actually familiar even though I wasn’t in it, Javier was at the bar with his friends. It was the same one I pulled for Stella when she wanted to know about Warren. Looking closely I found the stalker, she was witch a friend and unknown to the group of wolves in the room, they were casting spells. One was directed at my husband, but I couldn’t be sure what it was. And a few love spells were directed at Warren. Love spells as I’d heard were very tricky to get right, clearly she’d been practicing. With love spells the love is never real; you can’t make someone love you. So while it may seem like they love you it would just be hollow and empty like they were on autopilot.

Obviously her spells had no effect on Warren, which either meant she was bad at it or they just didn’t work on him. Where Javier was concerned the spell she sent him gave him pause in mid-drink and that was it. That spell was cast at least a year and a half ago, so I knew she had to had cast it more time to have the effect that it ultimately did. So I did a search for her in Javier’s memories and I found out just how she was able to affect him. Javier was her son’s doctor. It was actually brilliant, who would suspect the mother of one of his patients?

Finally I dropped out of his mind. I was slightly weak from being tired, hungry and I’d already had a headache. So I kind of just fell against Javier and he held me. Getting full control over my powers had now become a necessity. Even though my sometimes of control powers were strong than Little Miss Stalker’s, I still needed to make sure I could rely on them. For now I learned that hangover plus mind surfing did not a good mix make. On the bright side I did at least have a solid lead; it did come with more questions though.

Maybe this hadn’t started out as paranoia directed at me. The only reason it made sense to make Javier as paranoia as possible was if it was directed at his brothers. Everybody knew how close they were; even if they didn’t always get along they wouldn’t betray one another. If someone caused a rift between the Alonso brothers then it would be very bad. Somehow the spell just made him paranoid against me; I suppose the things other people said about me didn’t help much. Seemed like I was just taking one for the family and for the pack, they remained intact and nobody really knew what happened between us. It was my job to sacrifice for the greater good.

“Baby, are you ok?” Javier asked me while stroking my curly hair.

“Javi, I can officially forgive you because none of what happened was your fault,” I told him. Then I detailed for him what I saw and my thoughts on the situation.

“I can get her address,” he said. “Then I can let Stella strangle the life out of her.”

“Good plan,” I agreed. “So I’m guessing a spell to increase paranoia is easier than a love spell because she got you and not Warren and she was stalking him.”

“Maybe not, Warren is more controlled than me or anybody else I know so it just might not work on him. Besides he’s too much in love with Stella to accept another, even when he’s as pissed at her as he’s been. You know I saw a lot of Rita and her son Joey; she came in for every little thing. I thought it was because she was nervous being alone with the baby,” he sighed.

“We will get through this together,” I told him. “I can do my very best to reign in my powers and try a locating spell fir Zkar. I’m pretty certain I can undo any magic stalker chick has done, Sierra gave me some spells. But who knows how I will react to it, so maybe to be safe I’ll have Auri and Poppy lend me their powers as well. It would be just my luck to get thrown into a fit of visions I can’t escape.”

“You can only do it if I know you will be safe,” he said seriously. “So does this mean you’re coming home?” There was such a hopeful look in his eyes it melted my heart; I loved this man so much, so I kissed him.

“Yes, but I already decided that I was coming home after we talked the other day. And I decided I was going to the wedding. But I am glad that we’ve talked and we see things clearer now and well the kids miss you and want to come home. They deserve to sleep in their own beds in their own home,” I said.

“Let’s hope that we never fight again to the point where one of us leaves,” he said.

“Agreed,” I said and he kissed me.

“I missed you,” he whispered while nibbling my ear. There was lust in his voice and I wasn’t all that surprised.

“Javi, we made love for like 5 hours last night, I’m kind of sore. We haven’t done anything like this in a long time,” I said. To be with a wolf, especially my Alpha husband, you have to be able to withstand a lot of stamina.

“Yeah but that was us being drunk, this is us making up,” he informed me. He laid me back on the bed and start undoing my skirt.

“I was drunk, you definitely weren’t since you never get drunk,” I replied.

“Tyson thought I was pretty drunk, so I don’t know. If I was human I’d have died from alcohol poisoning,” he shrugged.

“You spoke with Tyson?”

“Oh yeah we talked last night,” he said matter-of-factly.

“There was no blood shed?” I asked a bit concerned, this was I why should never get drunk.

“We just talked; he wanted to apologize for not having boundaries with you. And he wanted me to know he never had any interest in you at all. After that we talked a bit about you and he wasn’t happy that I planned to end our marriage,” he explained.

“You told Tyson you planned to break up with me?” I asked completely shocked and a little concerned.

“Did I mention I drank a lot? Like a whole lot?”

“Where are my boots? I have to get back before my dad come to find me,” I said. I started to get up but he wouldn’t let me.

“He can mind his own damn business,” he growled. “You are mine and I told you he can’t have a say in that. Nothing he says matters.”

“Yes but that won’t stop him from fighting you and since you’re the best man I need your face perfect. I will not have anyone messing up Lynn’s wedding pictures,” I told him.

“Can you believe we’ve been married 5 years?” He asked thoughtfully while pulling my skirt down over my hips.

“No, it is hard to believe. Harder to believe is that I’ve been in love with you as long as I have,” I sighed. Thinking was becoming hard when he traced a line across the tattoo on my stomach with his tongue.

“Have you really never thought of being with another man?” he asked suddenly watching me with wolf eyes.

“Never, I mean I thought men were attractive but that’s it. All I’ve ever wanted was you Javier,” I said honestly.

“I love that you are completely mine,” he whispered against my skin. That didn’t surprise me, of course my possessive wolf liked that I’d always been just his.

“Javi,” I purred as he went lower. “I um should really get back to the farm; I have a million things to do today.”

“After I have my way with you, I will take the kids do you can do what you need to,” he replied.

“But…” I forgot my argument when he had my panties in between his teeth. My husband was a very talented man.

To ruin everything there was a knock at the door. Of course Javier ignored it and I couldn’t help but to ignore it too. If either of us would have been paying attention to anything besides each other we would have known who was at the door. But watching him pull my panties off was very distracting and it was more distracting while he was tonguing me. Unfortunately the door opened and it wasn’t surprised to see my father there, locks never stopped him. Good thing Javier had amazing reflexes because he got me covered with a blanket so I was a little less embarrassed. The tension in the room was suffocating as soon as they looked at each other.

“I was concerned for you Mackenzie when you did not return home,” he said in a causal tone.

“Daddy, I’m fine,” I said as innocently as I could.

“Your children were concerned for you,” he told me.

“Oh I know I should have called, but I was about to return anyway,” I said. Since this was beyond embarrassing and awkward, I spelled jeans on so I could get up.

While they glared at each other I picked up my clothes. My cell phone was on the dresser, I had several new text messages, all no doubt from my wonderful sisters. Before I could think of something to break the silence and lighten the mood, Javier’s phone rang. I picked it up off the dresser and handed it to him, it was the hospital.

“Hold on,” Javier said into the phone. “Maybe you should talk to your dad while I take this call,” he said to me. I nodded and he kissed my forehead before going outside.

“What are you doing here?” My father asked when we were alone.

“He is my husband,” I said.

“Yes, he is your husband that attacked you, what only 5 days ago?”

“It wasn’t his fault,” I told him. “A witch has been repeatedly spelling him for months now. I saw it with my own eyes and I know he is sorry about everything that happened.”

“I don’t want this for you, he was supposed to keep you safe but he hurt you. Mackenzie, you shouldn’t have to know what abuse feels like. You are second to no one, male or female,” he said. “Somehow I knew you would go back and hell I knew there was more to it than bespelled pictures. But something is going to happen and Jeana was up almost all night worried.”

“Daddy, I’m not going anywhere,” I assured him. “Never again, we’ve spent too much time apart already. I will talk to the kids, I know Jeana keeps worrying. After the wedding I’m going to do a locator spell to find Zkar and break through the magic his witches have been doing. Then all of this will be over.”

“Let us hope that this goes the way you plan, just do not put yourself in harms way,” he said. One thing Maddox Cohen was good at was hiding his emotions and he was sure doing it now.

I wished desperately that I had gotten to spend more time with him when I was young. Or if maybe I hadn’t been in such a rush to get married. We both knew that he regretted not having me around as a child and that he blamed himself and it was part of the reason he was so angry with Javier. He hit my mother and pushed her into a wall so hard she broke her arm the day she told him she was pregnant with me. She left him I ended up with the Jordans and then the Alonsos and when I finally was his I was already grown up. If only fate allowed us time, then maybe he wouldn’t be so afraid of losing me for good. Obviously I spent a lot of time with my parents and at the farm, but it was different since I had my own family, I would never be his little girl. At least he gets to have that with Mena and he will have it with Mariah. Again I wished I could go back in time without fear of repercussions.

“If he does something else I can’t promise you I won’t kill him,” he informed.

“Yes I know,” I replied and he hugged me tight. If only I could just be his little girl and stay in his arms forever.

“I have to go to the hospital,” Javier said when he came back inside.

“Is something wrong?” I asked unsure if I should be concerned or not.

“Not exactly, they just need a consultation so I shouldn’t be there long,” he said. “But I do need to have a word with Maddox first.”

“I figured,” my father said.

“Kenzie,” my husband said pulling me to him. “I’ll pick the kids up and we’ll see you tonight at the rehearsal. Go get some rest and eat something.” He kissed me longingly like he was afraid we wouldn’t ever kiss again, thankfully he didn’t over do it.

I said goodbye to both of them and said a silent prayer that they didn’t kill each other. My first stop was to the kitchen, I teleported right in. Thankfully Ellia was there and ready for me with food, I swore she was psychic sometimes. Of course she needed to know what I’d been up to, not that it wasn’t obvious. Like my mother I found it easy to talk to her, they had been close since mom moved in. As if called by my thoughts my mom came into the kitchen with her protruding cute round belly with Mena on her hip and holding hands with Noah. My mother was always adorable no matter what she did.