Invoked Read online

  Gregor’s brows knitted together. ‘That doesn’t sound like a naturally occurring phenomenon. Drew?’

  She had to answer truthfully. ‘I thought it might be. There was a certain feel to the magic. What I experienced was new to me though. Only my eyes worked. My own fear mounted. I couldn’t hail you … I was scared to my soul. My heart is still beating double-time.’

  ‘A cloak that large?’

  ‘Is that what you call it?’ She shrugged, pretending not to be too upset. ‘Maybe I was hysterical and it never happened like I imagined.’

  ‘Maybe … Still, I want you to be careful.’ He patted his middle. ‘Come on. I’m hungry.’

  Without reading him, she couldn’t be sure, but Nea suspected a false calm.

  ‘What do you mean be careful?’ she asked as she followed Gregor into the kitchen.

  He thrust a fishy-smelling bundle of paper at her. ‘Don’t burn my fish. And don’t be on your own with Drew.’ He tapped the tip of her nose.

  Dodging away from his hand, she thrust the paper-wrapped bundle back at him. ‘I’m not cooking your fish.’ When he took it, she said, ‘I scaled and cleaned it already when Matt caught it. I’ve done my bit.’ She turned away.

  ‘Nea?’ Gregor said with mock indignation.

  Pausing, she shot him a grin over her shoulder. ‘I’ll make salad though.’

  She opened the fridge and peered inside. ‘What will it be? Potato, coleslaw or green salad?’

  Gregor went out to the barbeque and engaged the gas, then poked his head in the window. ‘Why not do that nice pasta salad you made last weekend? The one with eggs and avocado.’

  ‘Sure. I’ll just clean up.’

  Later, as they sat down to eat, she could tell something was bothering Gregor, and it wasn’t just that he’d asked her to date a potential rapist. ‘What is it? Come on, Grandpa, spill.’

  His eyes kindled. ‘I’ve told you before, don’t call me that.’

  ‘Well, if you glower at your plate any longer it will transform into a Frisbee.’

  He chuckled. ‘Sorry. I was thinking about your experience with Penderton.’

  ‘Well don’t. It’s done and dusted.’

  Gregor broke some bread off a roll. ‘I can’t help it. I’m the head of this coven and I can’t read him. I don’t like not knowing the potential extent of his threats.’

  Nea shook her head. ‘I hear what you’re saying. He has very strong barriers. So it goes without saying that he’s deliberately hiding things, rather than being shy about his abilities.’

  Gregor’s eyelids quivered. ‘Just be extra careful. Okay? I have a council meeting tonight, here. Will you be able to amuse yourself? I feel bad leaving you to your own devices after your fright. Maybe I should postpone the meeting.’

  ‘Grandpa … Gregor … I’m fine.’ She held out her hand. ‘See? No tremors.’

  ‘Stop patronising me and have some respect. I’m the senior warlock around here and if you give me any more lip, I’m turning you into a frog.’

  Nea made a frog sound and leapt away before being flicked with a tea towel. When they stopped laughing, after trying to get at each other around the table, Gregor stopped trying to swat her. ‘I’m serious. Will you be all right, love?’

  ‘Sure. I am over it. I might do bit of navel gazing.’

  Gregor’s gaze went to the balcony. ‘Not outside?’

  Nea supressed a groan. ‘No, in my room. I have some serious thinking to do. You know: life, the universe … everything!’

  He nodded. ‘Well then. Be off with you before I find forty-two reasons to make you weed the garden with your teeth.’

  As she headed for the door, the dishes flew off the table and slotted themselves into the dishwasher. Nea’s eyebrows lifted. Gregor usually left the cleaning up to her.

  As if reading her mind, he said, ‘The council members are bringing their own snacks. You don’t need to do anything for them.’

  She frowned. ‘Sure. No problem. Are you going to bring this business of Drew up with them?’

  His face went blank. ‘Council business, Nea. I won’t discuss it with you.’

  Using her talent, she shot a wet tea towel at him, which hit the back of his head. Laughing uproariously, she raced up the stairs to her room, while Gregor sent a myriad of epithets after her.

  ‘You can be a pain when you want to be, Grandpa!’ she called from the top of the stairs.

  ‘Wait for it, young lady. I can do better!’

  Walking into her room, her door hit her in the butt, courtesy of her grandpa, and then swung shut. Recovering her balance, she tested the handle, and it wasn’t locked. She blew a raspberry at the door and heard the lock engage. Then she laughed out loud and threw herself on her bed, feeling overwhelmed with love for the old man. She’d probably pay for that bit of disrespect tomorrow with him hexing her cup of tea or something equally silly.

  Nea sighed loudly and kicked off her shoes. There was a problem, something bothering the old man, and she had no idea what it was. She hoped the rest of the council was aware of it. Gregor could keep things from them and that wasn’t good, not if it was serious.

  He was good at getting her to talk about things she’d rather not discuss. Unfortunately, he was resistant to her attempts to get him to open up. How was she going to find out what the issue was? He was wily, and he’d pick up on any attempts she made to weasel it out of him.

  The front door chimed. A council member had arrived. Nea let her talent sense who it was. It was Hilda, Gregor’s second-in-charge. She always came early. Another chime and Wallace arrived with his wife, Elvie. Humphrey was parking his car, and he’d brought Siv with him.

  Nea withdrew her witchsense. There was no point in eavesdropping. Gregor would shield the meeting and she’d not even dare try to peek in case he caught her at it. That would take things a bit beyond fun and games.

  Chapter Four

  Nea started from sleep, overheated, agitated. She tried to order her thoughts and recall what had woken her. A dream? The details of it were scattered. It had been erotic, weird, even, but there had been no narrative, and there was no sense to be made of it.

  Her talent swept the house, passing over her grandfather asleep in his bed. The councillors had long gone. No magic was at work in the building. Her talent swept beyond the walls and brushed up against the wards. They were intact. She was safe. There was no external source to be found for her sudden waking.

  Her gaze shifted to her clock. It was two a.m. She lay there and panted, sweat gathering in the small of her back. She kicked off the sheet and spread her legs to let the air cool her down.

  Vestiges of the dream clung to her. The curtains billowed, letting in a cool breeze. Peeling off her T-shirt, she lay in her underpants. Her nipples puckered in the night air, but she knew they’d been that way earlier in her dream, aching and throbbing as if being suckled hard. She remembered the responding throb in her clitoris. Whatever she had dreamed had turned her on.

  As her heart slowed, her eyelids drooped again. She should probably stroke herself, ease her tension so she could fall back to sleep, but she was too tired.

  Sleep had almost captured her when the soft stroke of breath on her thigh made her eyes snap open. With her heart thumping loudly in her ears, she jerked up onto her elbows, her body a ramp as she sent her senses into every corner of the room.

  ‘Who’s there?’

  There was no response. She lay still, waiting for some tell-tale sign that she wasn’t alone, but none came. Darkness surrounded her, and there was no living thing but her in the room. No heartbeat, no breathing, and no movement. It must have been her imagination. She had no idea she was that deprived sexually that her dreams would appear so real or make her that horny.

  Her state of arousal sunk into the fabric of her. Thoughts of intruders were replaced with those of need. She groaned and rolled on her side. It had been so long since she’d been intimate with anyone, tears welled in her eyes. Her h
and slid into her underpants and her labia were swollen. She was aroused. A touch of her finger, and pleasure zinged up her spine. Why couldn’t she remember the dream that had so obviously turned her on?

  Her finger slid into her folds and she was wet, wetter than she could remember. What had got her so hot? She wished she knew because she’d bottle it.

  A few strokes of her clitoris and she was surrendering to a bone-shuddering orgasm, crying out with it. Goddess, I hope Gregor didn’t hear that. She rolled her eyes up. He probably did. Blast.

  She flung herself over onto her back, listening to the soft lap of the lake down against the beach. Instead of feeling tired after her orgasm, she was alert. She stripped off her underwear and strode naked to the window. Hiding her breasts with the curtain, she peered down to the shore. There by the pier was a shadow. It looked like a man. A familiar man. She squinted at the outline. It looked like that guy she’d met earlier … Earl?

  She watched, fascinated. Maybe he lived close by.

  For a moment, she thought their gazes locked, but when she blinked he was gone. She stuck her head out the window and swept her gaze along the shore and the backyard. There was no one.

  The memory of Earl’s face flashed into her mind. There was something odd about him, yet he was attractive and oozed ‘easy-going’. She liked him—well, what she’d seen of him so far. She shook her head, glad she hadn’t read him and spoiled the fantasy.

  Back in bed, she lay there staring at the ceiling. Thoughts of Drew lingered, and the moment when she’d touched something in the ruin, a presence, a hunger. That place had frightened her—that was why she was thinking of it now. She tried a calming mantra but when that didn’t help, she pulled on her singlet and groped for fresh underwear. She wasn’t sleepy anymore but it was too early to get up. She didn’t want Gregor asking questions, which he would do if she started pottering around the kitchen, making tea or toast. The downside to living with someone.

  Resigned, she put on her light and picked up a book from the floor beside her bed. It was a handbook of battle magic, a book for beginners, written by Declan Mallory. She’d met him briefly at Jake and Elena’s joining celebrations, and again when she’d babysat on her last trip to Sydney. He was a good, solid warlock. He was a good, solid man too, well-built and good-looking. Too bad there weren’t more where he came from.

  She glanced at the book. It couldn’t hurt to learn defence, and maybe it would help her decide what she wanted from life, whether to embrace her talent or forget about it in pursuit of love and children. The philosophy was familiar and the first few exercises seemed easy. About ten pages into the battlemage book, her eyelids drooped. She lay back down against her pillows, sprawled with her legs apart on the bed, and promptly fell asleep. Vaguely, she was conscious of the book falling to the carpet but it didn’t rouse her, and she sank deeper into sleep.

  In the morning when she went downstairs, Gregor was nowhere to be found. She was about to hail him when she found a note. He was out on council business and he wanted her to stay indoors. She blinked a few times, then sniffed when she put the note back on the kitchen counter. So I can’t go out now. That’s just insane. She looked through the window. It was a lovely day. No way was she staying inside. A walk around the lake was what she needed.

  The coffee machine hissed as she teased her milk into froth. Then, topping off a large mug, she searched the benchtop for the chocolate but changed her mind and sprinkled cinnamon on instead. Waving the mug under her nose, she inhaled and closed her eyes. That had to be heaven—the smell of coffee in the morning.

  Out on the back veranda, she sat on a lounger and sipped her coffee while watching the lake. It was a bit overcast so the water was a pale grey and the surface was so smooth it was like glass. As she reclined there, taking sip after sip, she decided she was definitely heading out, no matter what Gregor had decreed.

  The walk around the lake was lovely—scudding clouds, toddlers laughing at the water’s edge while their mothers gossiped on the shore. Near the park, she saw someone familiar leaning on the post. It was Earl. He had a smile on his face and waved to her. Nea smiled back in response.

  ‘Hello,’ she said as she walked up, keeping her reading skills in check, even though now she was dying to check him out.

  ‘Hi. Nice day for a walk.’

  ‘Yes. It is.’

  ‘Are you in a hurry?’

  Nea screwed up her nose. ‘God no. Just killing time and enjoying the lake.’

  ‘Would you like to sit here a bit and talk?’

  ‘Sure, I could do that. Wouldn’t you like to walk with me?’

  His face clouded. ‘I can’t … sore knee.’

  There was a park bench nearby, so together they headed over to it. She sat and watched his form as he joined her. He grinned, his eyes showing a sparkle of light. ‘So tell me. How long have you lived here?’ he asked her.

  Nea sat back, enjoying the sun’s warmth. ‘All my life.’

  Earl nodded and relaxed against the bench. ‘In your blood then. The lake is full of energy, isn’t it?’

  Nea nodded and lowered her lids. There didn’t seem to be any talent emanating from Earl so she didn’t take him for folk. Perhaps he was a new-ager type who adopted pagan ways, with his talk of the lake and energy.

  Nea sent her gaze out over the water. ‘Yes, I guess so. It harnesses energy from the sea.’

  ‘And the moon.’

  Nea smiled. ‘And the sun.’

  Their gazes met and then Earl looked back out across the gentle waves. ‘I used to canoe around the lake when I was young. I’d spend hours out there. My parents came here from France, and the culture shock hit them in a big way. Me? I just loved being on the water.’

  ‘And you’ve just come back here?’

  Earl’s smile fell away and his eyes darkened as they met hers. ‘Yes.’

  That was too much temptation for Nea. She reached out with her talent and tried to lightly read him. She got nothing. No thoughts—just a sense of calm. Her head jerked suddenly, her witchsense tingling.

  ‘What is it?’ Earl asked her.

  ‘Nothing,’ Nea responded quickly. Her gaze flicked over his clothing. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, but there was no smell of coffee or cigarettes, just the briny scent of the lake.

  ‘So do you work around here?’ she asked, trying to pry but pretending not to.

  ‘Not at the moment. I’m between jobs. You?’

  ‘Ah, you saw me yesterday. I work a couple of days a week on the boat.’

  He nodded. ‘That must be nice.’ He looked away to the lake and then back at her, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth. ‘I like you.’

  Nea blinked. ‘I’m sorry?’

  He locked gazes with her. His voice lowered. ‘I like you a lot.’ His lips were full and kissable. Nea tried not to think about that, or the tanned hands that rested on his knees. He seemed so laid-back that she was almost tempted to lean against his chest and rest there.

  ‘Thanks, but you hardly know me.’

  ‘That’s not true. Sometimes you meet someone and you know them.’

  Nea nodded. ‘Yes, that can happen but—’

  ‘—not to you.’

  Nea chuckled. ‘Okay. You got me. That was what I was thinking.’

  ‘I understand the loneliness you feel. I feel it too. When you smile, it’s like the rays of the sun are born in me and I fill up with light.’

  Nea sucked in a breath. He sounded so sincere, and those words hooked into her heart. No one had expressed a feeling like that, not about her or to her. ‘I don’t know what to say except thank you for saying so.’

  ‘You don’t need to thank me. You are tied to this place like I am. You love it here. and I understand that. In my innocent youth I loved it too. Now, I can see that same bond in you and I feel my own heart warming to the place all over again.’

  Nea began to inwardly squirm. This conversation was unnerving her. It was like he spoke
to her heart, by-passing her brain. It was like he could read her, but that wasn’t possible. He wasn’t one of the folk. He didn’t have the vibe—just a wall of calm emanating from him.

  ‘I do love this place.’ She shrugged, trying not to let on how close he came to speaking to her heart. There was a bond forming there and that was strange. They hadn’t touched, not even to shake hands, yet they had a connection.

  ‘Yes, me too. It sustains me.’

  Nea gazed into his eyes. ‘I know what you mean.’

  ‘Bethanea, goddess of the lake,’ he whispered, and the hair on her neck prickled.

  She wasn’t sure how long they gazed at each other before she shook herself and stood up. ‘Look, I’d better head back home now.’

  Earl’s smile dropped. ‘Really? Already?’

  She hated how hurt he looked, but she was rattled and touched and drowning in uncertainty and need. ‘Maybe I’ll bump into you again.’

  Backing away, she gave him a smile.

  He lowered his eyes, his expression suddenly dejected. ‘Sure. Have a good walk back.’

  She was grateful he didn’t offer to accompany her, but kind of sad she didn’t invite him.

  After taking a few steps, she turned to wave. The mothers chatting by the shore stopped and gaped at her, and then looked to where she waved. Nea kept walking, thinking them odd and slightly rude, because they started talking and then laughing as Nea passed them by.

  ***

  Earl watched Nea walk away and sighed. It was like watching the sun set and feeling the dew fall on bare skin. He was alone and at a loss as to how to connect with her. He knew he was drawn to her because she had caressed his essence and woken him back to life. He had tasted the very heart of her, and it was now part of him. The essential elements of her had meshed with his—an irresistible pull. For her sake he had found strength and had ventured out into the world, back to the beauty of the lake and the warmth of the sun to be with her, because of her. Danger swirled around her, and his protective feelings came to the fore. Yet, despite the altruistic impetus to his being there, other more selfish feelings had taken over. Now he’d seen that smile, touched that light essence of hers, he was lost.