Sassy Ever After Read online

  Every muscle in Jackson’s body cramped. Holding onto Amanda as her body quivered, he tried to control the convulsions tearing through his system. The black smoke hovered over him, occasionally touching his skin, causing a kind of agony that could be described as his flesh being ripped apart into tiny pieces.

  Albert continued to wave his hands around the thick smoke until he’d collected it all and smashed it into the fire pit. Flames roared a good twenty feet into the sky.

  Jackson no longer felt pain, but he could barely keep his eyes open. His strength ripped from him, leaving him as helpless as a newborn pup.

  His arms still around Amanda, he let his head drop against hers. A healing warmth blanketed his skin. It prickled like tiny bubbles gliding off his body in a bath.

  “What…” Jackson’s throat cracked with dryness. He licked his lips. “What was that?”

  “Rest,” Albert said. “We’ll talk after you’ve regained your strength.”

  Jackson didn’t have the energy to fight the need to sleep. He let it come to him as he inhaled the sweet smell of his soulmate’s strawberry and coconut scent.

  He sucked in a gasp, trying to blink his eyes open. No. It couldn’t be. Whatever had just happened caused him to hallucinate that he’d found the woman he’d been destined to spend the rest of his life with.

  Chapter 6

  The sun beat through the windows, warming Amanda’s face. Her chill had long since left her bones, but her body shivered in remembrance. She’d never been so terrified in her life. Not even when she’d been on an airplane that had to make an emergency landing when one of the engines had cut out. And even then, she could have used magic to stop the plane from crashing if she had to.

  That had been the only time she’d been in the same space as Jackson, only she hadn’t known until after they’d deplaned as for whatever reason, he’d been seated in coach while she was in first class.

  She sat at the small table off the kitchen in Jackson’s cabin. Her father wrestled with scrambling eggs. He’d never been good in the kitchen, but the food was never half bad.

  “Where’s Jackson?” her father asked.

  “In the shower. He said he’d be out soon. He looks worse than I feel.”

  “He’s been living with two evil spells for a long time. Banishing them, while helping you heal, took a lot out of the young man.”

  “What kind of spells?” Most of last night turned into a mirage of agony and darkness. Her bones frozen to the point they could easily snap. Her blood so thick, it hurt as her heart tried to pump it through her system.

  Jackson’s touch turned into a raging fire against the frigid ice cube she’d become. The worst part had been hearing the agony in his howls as her father lifted the spell and banished it into the abyss. “And why did they enter my body when I just looked inside his?”

  Her father dumped eggs onto three plates as the toaster popped with slightly overcooked bread. “Jackson needs to be here for this.”

  She rubbed her temples. The headache had subsided to a dull throb. “Answer me this then. Why did I wake up in Jackson’s bed? With him? And you on the sofa?” Her father hadn’t been overly old-fashioned like her mother with the proper rules of dating a Royal, but Amanda couldn’t imagine him being okay with her sharing a bed.

  Even if nothing happened.

  Not that anything would.

  She touched her lips. His scorching kiss still tickling the inside of her mouth, sending pulses of desire to her belly.

  “You needed his warmth. He needed you. It seemed like the only choice at the time.” Her father set the plates on the table, then poured three cups of coffee before sitting down. He’d always been the serious type with a dark sense of humor that only came out in the comforts of his family. He took his role as Prince to heart, trying to do right by his father’s memory.

  She wrapped her arms around her middle. Waking up in Jackson’s embrace felt normal. Natural. Like she was always meant to be there. When her eyes flickered opened, he’d already been awake, staring at her, his arm draped over her hip. A long silence followed before he told her he needed to shower. As he rose out of the bed, deep groans filled the air. Bruises and scratch marks lined his back.

  She cringed knowing she’d done that to his magnificent, tanned skin.

  “There is something about him, Daddy, that makes me nervous. He’s distant even when he’s trying to get to know you.”

  Not this instant impression that she was meant to be with someone.

  “I can’t imagine it was easy growing up as the son of a murderer. He’s just guarded, that’s all.” Her father had an uncanny knack for reading people, and she trusted his judgment more than her own.

  “I’m starving,” Jackson said, startling her.

  She jumped, hitting her coffee mug. The black liquid sloshed out, splattering on the table.

  “Feeling better?” her father asked.

  “Better is a relative term. I feel clean. How’s that for a start?”

  “I’d say a good one. Eat up.” Her father waved a fork in the air. “You both need the nourishment.”

  “I plan on it, but I need to understand what the hell happened last night.” Jackson’s gaze darted between her and her father.

  Her heart swelled while his stare lingered a little longer, the corners of his lips tipping upward.

  “I like a man who is direct.”

  “I see no point in beating around the bush considering your daughter almost died,” Jackson said, patting her leg under the table.

  She batted his hand away.

  “When Amanda tried to take a peek at your inside aura, she hit a blocking spell that I’ve come to find out was cast on you as a child,” her father said.

  Jackson narrowed his eyes. “I’ll ask about the taking a look inside me later, but for now, what is a blocking spell? And what is it blocking me from?”

  “Mating with your soul-partner,” her father said matter-of-factly, but with a stiff back as he rounded his shoulders. “Meeting her, starting the process, unlocked a part of the spell.”

  She swallowed. The burn from Jackson’s kiss had inched into her heart.

  “I’m not interested in mating with your…” his words trailed off as their eyes locked in a sensual gaze. His blue eye turned a sultry green and his other eye a dark smoldering chocolate.

  She’d read somewhere that all wolves had a predetermined soulmate. A woman, whether it be another wolf, a human, or any other creature, that was perfect for the wolf in every way and that when they met, it would be nearly impossible to deny their destiny.

  She’d seen all sorts of different mating rituals, but the few wolves she’d known over the years that had mated had done so after dating for months.

  She and Jackson weren’t dating. They weren’t even friends.

  He tore his gaze away. “This can’t be happening.”

  “I don’t know much about a wolf’s mating, but I do know that witches believe that each of us has a perfect match and that when we find them, it’s nothing short of spectacular.”

  “Daddy, now is not the time to go into your love-at-first-sight fairy tale.”

  “It’s not a fairy tale, and it happened to me and your mother.” He lowered his chin.

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Let’s say your theory is true and Amanda and I soulmates, why did she freeze like that when she looked inside me and just for the record, that is creepy, and I’d appreciate it if you never did that again.”

  “I can promise that,” she muttered.

  “To answer your question,” her father said, “the spell was a permanent solution to keeping you two apart by killing my daughter if the two of you were to meet and have intimate contact.”

  She shivered. “I wouldn’t say intimate, but we kissed,” she said so softly she almost hoped her father hadn’t heard.

  “Kisses can be incredibly passionate and intimate and powerful enough to unleash the spell.”

  “
Why her and not me?” Jackson asked, dropping his fork to his plate. “It makes more sense to kill me.”

  Her father pushed a Book of Shadows she’d never seen before across the table, tapping his finger on the cover. “If Amanda had died, it would have looked as though you killed her.”

  “This is fucking crazy,” Jackson muttered, slamming his fist on the table. “I’m sorry, sir. I realize my father did a horrible thing, but your family…you witches and your magic—”

  “This isn’t my magic, though I will admit, my family has a tainted history with the dark side.”

  She drew the book closer. It felt heavier than it looked, and it singed her fingertips, sending sparks popping in the air. Images of the underbelly of magic lined the first few pages. As she leafed through it, glancing at spells that could destroy an entire race, her stomach knotted. “This is the Royal Legacy?”

  “The cliché that power corrupts absolutely is a truism that in our case is one we must constantly fight against. The more we master our craft, the greater need we have to use it and expand our potions and spells. This can always lead us down a path of darkness.”

  Her fingers froze over the blocking spell to which her father spoke of. It had to be performed by the time the male mate hit four years of age, or it wouldn’t work. The ingredients included the normal herbs one would expect, but also required was the hair and saliva from both mates.

  “Dad, did you read this spell?”

  Her father nodded.

  “How could someone know if two people are soulmates when they are babies. I mean, Jackson is four years older. In order for the spell to work, both our hair and saliva had to be collected by the time he was four.”

  “What the hell?” Jackson reached for the book, his hand barely over the pages when a bolt of lightning shot out of the book. “Jesus,” he muttered, yanking his hand back.

  “Sorry, that’s to ensure the book doesn’t get into the wrong hands,” her father said as he waved his arms, putting out the flame. “But going back to how someone would know, that would be on the wolf side.”

  “Barbara Wolfe is known for ensuring proper mating. If anyone would know, it would be her,” Jackson said, leaning back in his chair. Dark circles lined the skin under his eyes.

  “Yes, your mother told me of her, and I will be in contact,” her father said.

  “You spoke to my mother?” Jackson bolted upright. “I don’t want her mixed up in any of this. She’s suffered enough.”

  “Son, she’s your mother. I felt responsible to tell her what happened and ask for help in order to save you both.”

  “I’m a grown man, and my mother doesn’t need to know everything.” Jackson pushed his plate of food across the table. “This will just cause her more grief.”

  Amanda did her best to bite her tongue. She knew better than to get in the middle of two dominate males, especially when she agreed with Jackson on this one. She continued to read the spell and found out that while it wouldn’t stop attraction, the couple wouldn’t feel the intense need to be together, but if they did act on impulse, the female mate would freeze until she crystalized into a million pieces. Once dead, she would morph back into herself, but with a dozen stab wounds to her chest.

  “Jesus, Daddy. Who wrote this spell?”

  “I don’t know, but no one but myself, my siblings, and the high council have access to this book.”

  “Why the hell didn’t you burn it years ago?” Jackson asked.

  Her father flipped to the last page. “If I did, all of my children and my wife would suffer with the worst kind of pain for the rest of their lives. Tragedy would be at every corner.”

  “I have no children. I’ll burn the fucker,” Amanda muttered.

  “It’s not just children. Whoever dared to destroy the book, their loved ones would suffer,” her father said.

  “Great. We have a Book of Spells—”

  Amanda interrupted Jackson. “It’s a Book of Shadows.”

  “I think that sounds worse.” Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose. “If your family and the witch council are the only ones who have access, then it’s one of them who cast the spell.”

  “Most likely, but we have a second spell to contend with,” her father said.

  “And what spell might that be?” Jackson said with a long breath.

  “I can’t find it in this book, but it’s a variation of an unlucky spell, and I can’t be sure when it was cast but based on how it came out of your aura, and what I know about your career, my guess would be after you got the Oscar win.”

  “So, what you are trying to tell me is two different spells cast by two different witches?” Jackson stood, taking his mug.

  “Yes,” her father said, pressing his hands on the table, lowering his chin, giving her that look he used to toss her way when he was about to punish her. “And I have an idea on how to flush out the witch who used the blocking spell.”

  “I’m not sure I want to know,” she said.

  “We need to spin this that you two have been secretly dating for the last few months. That the only people who knew were your families.”

  “My siblings won’t go for that,” Jackson said.

  “You’re going to have to make them, because whoever cast that spell won’t hesitate to cast something far worse, and the only way I know to draw them out is to make them think you’ve done exactly what they tried to prevent.”

  “I need a drink.” Jackson took a couple of long strides to the kitchen and pulled down a bottle of whiskey. “Anyone else?”

  Her father shook his head.

  “No. I’m good,” she said, watching his outside aura swell with a dozen different reds, yellows, oranges, with a dollop of brown. He wasn’t filled with rage, which was good, but the confusion and fear… no, it wasn’t fear, at least not the kind that made a man quake in his boots. It was more an uneasiness about something.

  She caught his gaze and realized, it was her that troubled him.

  Chapter 7

  The last thing Jackson wanted to do was have a roommate. Especially one that turned his mind into a puddle of puppy mush, making it difficult to think clearly. But Amanda’s father had a valid point.

  They were safer together at Jackson’s house, then separate with her alone in her apartment. Not only that, if she’d gone back to her family home, that might trigger a different kind of speculation with the very witch that had tried to kill her if she mated with him.

  He pulled two bottles of Merlot out of the wine cooler and cracked one open. In the last five days, his life had turned upside down and now the world thought he had been secretly dating Lady Amanda Windsor for the last four months. He certainly questioned his sanity when he’d accepted this cockamamie idea.

  “Tell me why I need to be here again?” His younger sister of three years, Tina, breezed by, snagging a wine glass and helping herself. Her red locks bounced over her shoulder. All of his siblings had some difficulty with their chosen professions because of their father, but Tina took the brunt of it as an Assistant District Attorney. Every case she tried was scrutinized, and if she didn’t win, people would often accuse her of being soft because her father was in prison.

  “You don’t, but I thought since we’re all going to have to act like a happy family—”

  “Act?” his younger brother, Decker, shouted from the family room. “You dumbass, you’ve mated with Lady Sass.”

  “Don’t call her that. She’s right in the other room.”

  When she’d been younger, the press dubbed her Lady Sass because as a child actress, she did have a sassy, confident side that amused most, even him. Not the nickname, but how poised she'd been and how easily she could give as good as she got at a young age. Not many young stars could take the criticism she had been subjected to and stay in the business.

  Not to mention, the more time he spent with her, the sweeter she became.

  He glanced at his watch. His other sister, Lola, was notorious for being late. Both
she and Decker owned an IT company together, using their computer geek skills to create…oh hell, he had no idea what they did. He could barely run his Apple Watch.

  The master bedroom door squeaked opened. He glanced over his shoulder and swallowed his breath.

  Her long hair had been pulled up in a loose bun on top of her head. Strays of her curly locks dangled on the sides of her face. Her long, thick lashes fluttered over her sweet, blue eyes.

  “Wine?” He held the glass out.

  “I don’t like taking over your bedroom,” she said, her dainty fingers curled around the glass.

  “It’s fine. I fall asleep on the sofa most nights, and there are four bedrooms.”

  His sister cleared her throat.

  “This is Tina and that over there is Decker. They will be taking turns, along with some friends, guarding the house.”

  “Nice to meet you both.” She leaned against the counter, folding one arm over her middle.

  His fingers itched to tug the clip out of her hair, letting it cascade over her shoulders, feeling the soft strands against his callused skin.

  Decker moved from the family room and perched himself on a stool at the island. Decker was four years younger, and the baby of the family. Jackson had taken on the role of parent when his father had been imprisoned and for years, Decker had resented him.

  Today, they had a close bond, even if it seemed liked all they did was bust each other’s ass.

  “Lola isn’t coming,” Tina said with a scowl. “At least not until late when she takes over the night shift.”

  “Why not?” The last few months, Jackson had been spending most of his time at his cabin, not in his home off Mullholland Drive, nestled in the hillside, overlooking the city. The house wasn’t huge compared to others in the same neighborhood at thirty-two-thousand square feet and four bedrooms, but Jackson enjoyed the four acres of land and the private yard with a view many would kill to have.

  “She’s got a date.” Tina tossed her hands in the air. “She’s always got a date and never with the same man.”

  “I’ve given up trying to keep track,” Jackson said, resting his ass on the counter next to Amanda, taking in her sweet exotic scent. His hip pressed against hers. The last few days had been torture between being at the cabin with her, and now at his home. If he were being completely honest with himself, the only reason he’d invited his siblings inside had been to keep him from attacking the beautiful woman that would be resting her pretty head on his pillow, casting her scent all over his sheets.