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Chapter One
Moira
JohnDenver’s“CountryRoad”hummed through the rental car’s speakers, and I belted out the lyrics as I turned off the highway and onto the long, winding road leading over the mountains. I’d left home at seventeen to study abroad in Ireland five years ago. My last visit home had been after I’d finished my bachelor’s degree before heading off to Boston to attend Harvard, but it hadn’t been nearly long enough of a visit. Plus, my grandmother had been busy with orders for the apothecary shop, then the yearly celebrations Witchery Hollow held at the end of summer. When all that was over, I’d spirited off across the country to attend classes on herbology, alchemy and pretty much anything which kept my mind occupied. Of course, I’d thought there would be time to tell grandmother, the woman who’d raised me, all about my endless adventures. Instead, I’d received a brief message that had stopped me dead in my tracks.
The woman who’d taken me in as an infant was dying. Moments after I’d received the message, I’d quit both jobs I’d been working to pay off the endless student debt I’d accrued in Ireland. Next, I’d phoned my professors and explained I wouldn’t be able to attend classes anymore, or help them correct the endless piles of tests they’d allowed to stack up. After I’d finished quitting my jobs and dropping out of school, I’d packed my entire apartment in Boston into a rental car and started toward the one place I’d ever considered home. Witchery Hollow.
Witchery Hollow was a picturesque town in the middle of the Selkirk Mountains. In fact, it would never be found on a map. The flourishing green forests of the Idaho Panhandle were serene and mostly uninhabited. Of course, the terrain was rocky until you passed through the valley, which then changed to lush, rolling hills of greenery. In short, there weren’t many visitors to our tiny mountaintop town. It was how the locals preferred it, or at least the older ones.
The lack of people was why my mother, Rena Bishop, had left at the first chance she’d gotten. She’d gone off to Harvard and graduated with full honors, which was a stark contrast to my barely passing grades. I’d been working several jobs to pay off the debt I’d picked up at the first college. I’d also been pursuing multiple classes outside of Harvard as well, to finish the secondary degrees I’d chosen to pursue. After she’d left Harvard, she’d joined Doctors Without Borders. While on vacation, she’d had a hot and heavy relationship with one of her married colleagues in Italy, before ending it to move on to her next adventure. Unfortunately, the result of her whirlwind romance was me.
My mother had returned to Witchery Hollow only long enough to leave me with my grandmother before heading back to work. Then she’d gone and died before I could ask her why she’d chosen to leave me behind. The knowledge of who my father was had died with her.
The song playing became ear-splitting static, which had me leaning forward to scan through the stations for another. After a moment with no success in finding a signal, I groaned and glanced up, just as I flew by a sign indicating a sharp turn up ahead. Placing both hands back on the steering wheel, I navigated the curve and then turned my attention back to the radio, trying to get it to connect to my Bluetooth.
The next time I glanced back at the road, which wasn’t more than a second later, a cry of horror escaped my lips and my foot slammed on the brake pedal, but I was too late to avoid my front bumper slamming into an animal. The loudscreechof metal buckling filled the cab. The squealing of the tires tore through the car as the back end began fishtailing over the pavement. When the car finally came to a stop, it was in a ditch with the ass-end pointed up at the night sky.
“Shit, shit, shit!” I screamed while slamming my hands on the wheel. “This is why I can’t have nice things!”
The rebel in me hated listening to reason. I learned nothing the easy way, ever. Peering over my shoulder, I grumbled. It wasn’t like I could sit here, either. In a ditch. In the dark. Alone.
“Don’t do it, Moira. Do not be the woman who gets eaten by wildlife because she’s too stupid to stay in the car. No. Nope. Not happening.” I exhaled a shuddered puff of air before groaning. “But if you don’t check on the poor thing, you’ll spend the entire night wondering if you’re a murderer. Why am I like this?”
With the decision made, which was a stupid-ass decision, I opened the door and slowly climbed out. My heels sank into the wet soil, which led to an unimpressed mutter escaping from my lips. After climbing up the bank of the ditch, I paused long enough to take in the awkward angle of the car, noting that it would be nearly impossible to get out without help from a tow truck, and then I frowned at the dark object on the roadway.
“Add ‘murderer of poor wildlife’ to my pathetic resume,” I muttered, uncertain if the animal was alive or dead. “Did you die?” My voice echoed through the valley, which caused me to jump in surprise. “You’re such a badass, Moira.” After berating my own foolish, overactive imagination, I crept forward. The large dog-like animal lifted its head at my approach, and it let out a rumble of unfriendly sounds, seemingly warning me to stay back, and I froze in place.
“Easy boy—or girl . . . whichever you are. I’m not here to hurt you. I mean, I totally hit you and am guilty of removing my eyes from the roadway, but I didn’t mean to do it.” Taking a few calming breaths, I snorted at my own foolishness. “Look, it wasn’t my fault the radio was static, which, let’s be honest here, isn’t something any personoranimal enjoys listening to. Am I right? I can’t be expected to listen to it for the rest of the drive home. Yes, I definitely should’ve waited until I’d rounded the turn, but we can’t all be perfect!”
The large canine watched me with amber eyes, as if it were judging my stupidity more than I was. “Can you walk or move? I’d hate for you to get run over and be flattened on the road. It wouldn’t be good luck, bud.” When the canine just continued baring his teeth, I puffed out a frustrated breath. “Now I’m talking to animals in the middle of nowhere in the dark. See? This is why they call women crazy. You don’t look like you want my help, but here my dumbass is, trying to save you.” Moving toward the center of the road, I scanned the creature’s side for any sign of damage. “Up, let’s go.” The animal slowly rose to its feet, baring sharp, pointy teeth as it did so. “Shoo, Cujo. Hit the road, Jack . . . Oh, that might be a sore subject still. You know, with me hitting you?” The huge canine growled menacingly.
“Oh, God! Don’t eat me,” I pleaded, as it began prowling forward. “Listen, I don’t taste good. I wouldn’t even taste good with ranch or ketchup lathered over me. I’m the kind of taste you won’t be able to get out of those surprisingly long teeth you have. Great, now I’m Little Red Riding Hood, damn it. How did I know I’d regret getting out of the car? Good doggy? No!” I cried as it snapped its teeth and tried to take a bite out of me.
Dancing out of the limping, angry canine’s bite radius, I held up my hands as if that would placate the guy. “If you eat me, you’ll feel like a serious asshole when you figure out that I was only trying to help you! You don’t eat the helping hand. It’s like a rule or some shit, right? Shit—”
The echo of a fast-moving vehicle met my eardrums as my eyes lifted from the animal to the direction I’d come from, just as the car rounded the bend. Blinded by the headlights, I lifted my arms as if it would stop the vehicle which was barreling toward me from actually colliding with me.
A scream tore free from my lungs as fur brushed against my leg and the animal abandoned me to my fate. I didn’t even have time to laugh at the irony of being in the spot or position of the animal when I’d hit it, before the screeching of brakes tore through the night.Karma sucked!
My arms remained over my face as I silently prayed for the pearly gates to open and admit me before the pain of being hit by a car set in. The ding of a door opening was followed immediately by the rich, masculine rage of the person who almost punched my ticket. My hands slowly began patting over my body as I trembled so hard my teeth ached from it.
“Are you trying to fucking die?” An angry, sharp tone clapped through the silent night. “What are you doing standing in the middle of the fucking road at this ungodly hour?” the irate driver demanded in a smooth, dark timbre, causing goosebumps to spread over every inch of me. “I asked you a question, lady!”
A hand landed on my shoulder, yanking me around. It forced fear to jolt through me as I peered up at the man. His headlights cut through the darkness around us. They also were making it impossible to see him beyond the shadows obscuring his features from sight.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered past my trembling lips. “I hit an animal and then stopped to see if it needed help.”
“And you thought it wise to stand in the middle of the road and do what, join it as roadkill? Brilliant, lady.”
“I’m aware of that fact, sir,” I spit out crossly at his angered response.
He shifted his posture, which caused his headlights to blind me once more. Shielding my eyes from the light with my arm, I opened my mouth to explain more, but only a whisper of shock came out. I was rendered speechless by the man, who was currently examining me in return.
The moment he stepped closer, I was given an even closer view of the darkly tantalizing specimen of man before me. His nearness caused everything around me to go silent, as if the entire world died instead of me on the highway.
Dark, silky-smooth hair framed an arrogant face. A proud nose sat between finely chiseled cheekbones, which whispered of aristocratic lineage. The dusting of a five o’clock shadow kissed his jawline, and his full, lush lips promised to deliver every filthy fantasy I’d ever held in my dreams. He was taller than me by a good foot, and he wore a crisp, clean dress shirt that did little to conceal the sinewy muscles hidden beneath the thin fabric. The shirt was unbuttoned at the collar revealing ink beneath it. More was revealed from the sleeves rolled up on his forearms to expose dark, sexy ink that began on both wrists.
“Where’s your car at?” he demanded as he scanned the dark highway, eyeing the barely visible trunk of my rented car.
