Witch’s Mark: Willow Harbor - Book 7 Read online

  And I never felt at-ease with anyone.

  “What? Never?” she asked, her eyes wide with wonder.

  “Never,” I said.

  “Then you absolutely have to go get a bathing suit and spend some time in the water,” she said. “But only during the daytime.”

  I narrowed my gaze at her, and she shook her head, as if she hadn’t meant to let that slip.

  “You know, just in case,” she said. “You never know what’s lurking in the water after dark.”

  “I had no idea the ocean was so dangerous,” I said. “Do you get a lot of sharks along this part of the coast?”

  “Sharks and… other things,” she said, avoiding my stare.

  I could only imagine. A place like this, so full of supernatural creatures, surely had a thriving community of mermaids, nagas, and who-knew-what-else. I’d read about them in some of my father’s books, but I’d never had a job bring me in such close contact with them.

  “I’ll be sure to only go during the day,” I said. “Or maybe you could show me around sometime? Protect me from whatever’s lurking beneath the waves?”

  A blush as red as roses spread across her freckled cheeks.

  “Me?” she asked, fidgeting. “I stay pretty busy most of the time.”

  “You don’t look too busy tonight,” I said.

  “Well, it’s kind of a special occasion.” She pressed her lips together as if she were trying to stop smiling so big.

  “And what’s that?” I asked, my heart racing.

  She took a deep breath and shrugged.

  “It’s my birthday today,” she said. “And speaking of celebrations, I should really get back to my friends. They’ll be wondering where on earth I got off to. It was nice to meet you, though.”

  “Wait,” I said, reaching for her hand as she passed by me.

  She pulled her hand away in a fluttering movement, breathing in sharply as our skin touched.

  “I don’t even know your name,” I said.

  A lie, but she didn’t need to know that.

  “Oh,” she said, giggling. “Anna. Anna Tillman.”

  “Anna,” I said, bowing my head. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Slade. I’ll see you around town, then?”

  “I have a food truck I park near the square every morning,” she said as she walked away. “It’s called Presto. The best food in town, if I do say so myself. Come by sometime, and I’ll treat you to a free breakfast. My way of saying I’m sorry I ruined your shirt.”

  “Hey, ruining this shirt is the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time,” I said, a rush of adrenaline shooting through me as our eyes met. “I’ll be sure to come by.”

  She smiled and then quickly pressed her lips together again, but she couldn’t hide the fresh blush on her cheeks. She stumbled slightly, catching herself as she reached out for the railing that surrounded the dance floor.

  She shrugged and giggled.

  “See?” she said. “Clumsy.”

  She twirled around and disappeared into the crowd, leaving me standing near the hallway, my heart beating fast. Only, I was no longer sure if it was from getting another clue that this was truly the woman I’d been searching for, or if it was Anna herself who had me so worked up.

  She was not just beautiful. She was genuine. Fun. The kind of person who was always true to herself, which I admired, because I was almost never true to myself.

  Something about her made my head spin, but I told myself it was just a reaction to what she’d just told me. Another clue that made me certain I had found Elisha’s daughter.

  Today was Anna’s birthday.

  That couldn’t be a coincidence.

  I reached for my cell phone and quickly sent a single text. A text I’d been waiting to send for nearly ten years. Ever since Elisha first sent both me and my father out to start looking for the girl who had escaped.

  I think it’s really her. Dad, I finally found her.

  Three

  Anna

  “And who, exactly, was that?” Lucy asked, her eyes wide as she grabbed my hand and pulled me closer.

  “Don’t stare,” I hissed. “Act normal.”

  “Whoever he is, he’s gorgeous,” Roni said.

  My girlfriends clustered around me, and I wanted to die from embarrassment as they looked from me to the stranger. Could they make it any more obvious we were talking about him?

  But I could hardly take my eyes off him, either.

  He was tall with tanned skin and dark hair, but it was his eyes that nearly knocked the breath from my lungs. They were steel grey and blue, and they seemed to see straight into me. As if he knew me.

  And damn, his body was incredible. Even in the half-light of the club, I could tell he was strong.

  Lucy laughed, and I blushed again. I wanted to tell her to forget about the guy, but I was curious what she could see around him.

  She and her brother Jon were both gifted with seeing auras.

  “What do you see?” I whispered in her ear.

  She took in a deep breath as she stared at him, but she eventually shook her head.

  “Nothing,” she said. “It’s strange, but I can’t see his aura at all. I’m not sure that’s ever happened before.”

  “Let’s get out of here before you guys make me look like even more of a fool,” I said, pulling Lucy off the dance floor.

  “Even more of a fool?” she asked when we tumbled out the door into the fresh air of the summer evening. “What did you do?”

  I groaned. “I slammed into him and knocked his drink all over his shirt,” I said. “I’m the clumsiest girl who ever lived.”

  “Clumsy and hot,” Lucy said. “I doubt he even noticed the drink after he took one look at you in that dress.”

  I blushed again and placed my hands over my warm cheeks.

  “So, who is he?” Padma asked, a bit too loud now that we were outside the small club. “And why didn’t you invite him to come dance with us?”

  “His name is Slade. He said he’s in town on business,” I said. “Now you know as much about him as I do, and for the record, I hardly think a guy like that wanted to come dance with a group of tipsy girls.”

  “This was your night to let loose,” Lucy said. “You should have asked him to dance with you.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be heading back to the inn as soon as possible to change shirts, anyway,” I said. “Besides, he’s only in town for a short while. No use getting close to someone who’s just going to leave. And this is our night. Come on, let’s head over to Drifter’s. I promised Nik I’d stop by.”

  The other girls groaned.

  “Drifter’s? Seriously?” Roni asked. “That place is such a hole-in-the-wall.”

  “Which is part of why I love it so much,” I said. “The Veil was amazing. Thank you all very much for showing me a side to this town I didn’t even know existed, but I feel so much more like myself at Drifter’s. And these shoes are killing my feet.”

  “I thought you said you wanted an adventure for your birthday,” Lucy said, but she didn’t seem upset. She linked her arm with mine as we walked.

  “Every night with you ladies is an adventure,” I said, laughing.

  When we reached the grass of the town square a few minutes later, I kicked off my heels and sighed as the cool grass squished between my toes. I fought against it, but I was a farm girl through and through.

  Nothing felt better than nature under my bare feet.

  I was so ready to get out of this tight dress and change back into my long, flowing skirt or a pair of jeans.

  “You’re having fun, though, right?” Roni asked, linking her arm inside mine on the opposite side as Padma joined her.

  “The best time ever,” I said.

  As much as I dreamed of someday leaving Willow Harbor, this town had its perks. Like friends I’d known my whole life. Friends who understood me and were there by my side, no matter what.

  Gran was constantly warning me of what li
fe was like on the outside. People out there didn’t understand the kinds of powers witches had, and many of those people wanted to use powers like mine for evil.

  For the most part, Gran was just paranoid and over-protective. She’d lived here in Willow Harbor all her life, following in her own mother’s footsteps by taking over the family farm.

  There was no doubt in my mind that Gran hoped all of her children and grandchildren would choose to stay here in this town, but sometimes, I felt like Willow Harbor was suffocating me.

  Or maybe it was just my family that was suffocating me.

  I’d mentioned wanting to get a place of my own or move in with my friends, but every time I brought it up, Gran acted like the very thought of me moving out was enough to give her a heart attack.

  I guessed in some ways, I couldn’t blame her.

  My mother—Gran’s youngest daughter, Maura—had left town and never come back.

  No one would tell me the truth of what happened to her all those year ago, but I knew that it was my mother’s dreams of leaving this town that had eventually gotten her killed.

  All anyone would tell me was that Mom had abandoned her roots, gone out into the big, bad world, and gotten lost. She’d died just two days before my fourth birthday, and whatever memories I’d once had died along with her.

  I’d been brought back to Willow Harbor with nothing more to show for my life up to that point than a strange tattoo just above my hip.

  A mark that told a secret story I yearned to understand.

  The spot where I’d been marked burned as I thought of it. It was my secret shame, and I was careful never to let anyone see it. Gran said that the mark was dangerous. That the people who gave it to me might come looking for me someday, and that I should never show it to anyone.

  But there was a story there that I longed to know.

  My mother’s story.

  Maybe now that I was twenty-one, Gran would finally tell me the truth about what happened to my mother, but I doubted it. She’d told me to stop asking about it, and I had obeyed her for a very long time.

  But not a day went by that I didn’t think of Mom and wonder what had gone so wrong for her.

  “Hey, why do you have that sad, faraway look again?” Lucy asked as we walked onto the Boardwalk and headed down toward Drifter’s at the other end near Fisherman’s Bay.

  “Did I?” I asked, lifting my lips into a smile and pushing all feelings of sadness and regret away. This was not a night for dwelling on the past, and I didn’t want my good friends to think I wasn't having a good time.

  “Yes, you did,” she said. “Are you okay? Thinking about your mom again?”

  I leaned into my friend, grateful that she could practically read my mind at times like this.

  “I just wish she were here,” I said. “From the stories I’ve heard about her, she loved birthday celebrations more than anyone. She would have made this a really special day, I just know it.”

  Lucy stopped and brought her lips to my forehead in a soft kiss.

  “She’s watching over you,” she said. “I can feel it.”

  “Thank you,” I said, glancing up at the sky full of stars. “I can feel it, too.”

  We walked the rest of the way in silence as I struggled to lighten my mood. My thoughts shifted to the mysterious man I’d met at The Veil.

  Slade.

  There was something about him I couldn’t quite put my finger on. He was a stranger, but I couldn’t help feeling that we knew each other. Or that somehow, we were meant to know each other.

  Or maybe my head was filled with dreams since my good friend Nik had met his perfect match in Eva. She’d literally crashed her car into a tree a few feet from Drifter’s, and the rest had been history.

  They’d saved each other, really, and everyone said the beautiful willow tree in town had brought Eva here just for Nik.

  That they were fated to be together.

  I wasn't foolish enough to believe this new guy, Slade, had come here for me, but there was some part of my heart that longed for a connection like the one Nik and Eva had found.

  We stepped into Drifter’s and Nik threw his hands up and shouted, “There she is! Happy Birthday!”

  He walked around the bar and pulled me into a big hug.

  “I was hoping you’d stop by,” he said.

  Eva sat up at the bar with some of the old-timers, and she stood to greet me, holding out a small box.

  “Happy birthday, Anna,” she said. “I know nothing could ever repay what you’ve done for me, but Nik and I wanted to get you something special for the big day. I hope you love it.”

  I sat down at the bar and tore open the bright pink wrapping paper.

  Tucked inside the small box was a perfect strand of lavender pearls. My favorite color.

  Tears sprang to my eyes. Pearls this color from the ocean were extremely rare. Something only a triton or mermaid could ever find.

  “I love it,” I said, swiping a finger under my eye. “Thank you so much.”

  “It’s the least we could do,” Nik said. “You were my first true friend here in Willow Harbor. I’ll never forget what you’ve done for us.”

  “Come on, let’s celebrate with a drink,” Lucy said, taking the bar stool next to mine and throwing a twenty-dollar-bill on the bar top.

  Nik poured us each a drink, and before long, the entire bar was filled with laughter and the sound of joy.

  But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get thoughts of the mysterious guy from the bar out of my head.

  And I couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow, fate had just tapped me on the shoulder.

  Four

  Slade

  It was a pleasant walk back to the Willow Harbor Inn. Excitement kept my steps light. I couldn’t believe I’d actually managed to locate the one person Elisha wanted more than anyone on this earth.

  I would be heavily rewarded for this when I got home, but the only reward I cared about was freedom for myself and my family.

  Elisha had told me a long time ago that he would never let me go free as long as his daughter was still out there somewhere. He held my family personally responsible for her escape, even though I’d only been eight when the girl and her mother had left in the dead of night.

  From what I knew, her mother hadn’t survived it, but somehow the little girl had gotten away. Up until I landed in this town, no one had any idea where she had been hiding all these years.

  Her freedom had meant my imprisonment, and even though she seemed like a very special woman, I would gladly hand her over to Elisha in exchange for my own ticket out of the Disciples.

  And I would take my family with me.

  Elisha had promised me that freedom, though I don’t think he truly believed I’d be the one to find her.

  Anna Tillman.

  Her pretty face flashed before me, her cheeks warmed with a light blush as she smiled up at me. Guilt stabbed my insides, but I pushed it away.

  It was none of my business what Elisha wanted with his daughter. It was my job to bring her home to him.

  Whatever happened to her after that was not my concern.

  Only, there was an innocence about her I hadn’t been expecting. The elders spoke of the girl’s mother as this enormously powerful witch who had dared to stand up to Elisha himself.

  And no one dared stand up to Elisha.

  When I’d imagined their daughter, I’d imagined a powerful, self-confident woman with barbed-wire wrapped around her heart. Someone who’d known a difficult life and was ready for a fight at any moment.

  But Anna was nothing like that at all.

  She was unguarded and sweet. Slightly awkward in an endearing way.

  She was happy.

  I climbed the steps to the inn and tried to shake the vision of her smile. I couldn’t let this woman get under my skin. I’d come too far to walk away just because Elisha’s daughter seemed sweet.

  What had gotten into me? I had never let a bea
utiful woman rattle me before.

  Besides, maybe her innocence was just part of her game. Maybe beneath that naive exterior, she was a warrior just waiting to strike.

  She was a job, and I would do well to remember that.

  “Oh, there you are,” Mrs. Finnygood said as I stepped inside the foyer.

  I was surprised to see her still awake at this hour. It was after midnight, and I’d expected to find the place deserted.

  Instead, there seemed to be a lively game of cards going on. A half-empty bottle of sherry sat on the coffee table, and I had a feeling it wasn't the first bottle that had been consumed that night.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to come home,” she said, walking over to greet me.

  The small woman barely reached my waist, and she looked up at me expectantly.

  “Was there a curfew I wasn't aware of?” I asked, glancing at my watch.

  “Oh, no. No, of course not,” she said, laughing and shaking her head. She took my hand, surprising the hell out of me as she led me toward the group in the parlor. “I was just hoping you’d have some news to share with us about your evening. Come, come. Tell us everything.”

  I shook my head, confused.

  “My evening?” I asked.

  I ran a hand across my shirt, wondering if she was referring to the alcohol.

  “Yes,” she said, taking her seat on the couch. She was practically bouncing with excitement, and her eyes twinkled. “Tell us what you’ve been up to.”

  “Who you’ve met,” her husband said.

  Mrs. Finnygood swatted his arm. “Don’t push him,” she said. “Let him speak.”

  “I’m not pushing anyone,” he said. “I’m merely steering him in the right direction. You’re the one who practically jumped on him the moment he walked in the door.”

  “Well, I was expecting him home over an hour ago,” she said. “Come, Slade, sit with us.”

  I cleared my throat, wondering what on earth was going on here. They seemed to know something I didn’t, which made me nervous. Had they been snooping in my room? Did they know why I was really here?

  They seemed to be taking an unnatural interest in me tonight.