From This Day Forward (13 page)

“
What the hell?”

Panic gripped Noah in a double-fisted clench. His chest hurt.
“You lost my daughters?” His voice rose.

“
No. I didn’t lose them.” She leaned on her hands bracing her knees. “Someone took them.”

“
You.” He pointed at Grayson. “Go look at the cameras. I need to know who took them and where they’re headed. Call my cell.”

“
On it.”

“
Cate, can you take me to the last classroom? I want to see if I can pick up the trail. The scent of whoever abducted them.” Noah slammed his balled up fist to his forehead. “Shit. Why didn’t I think of this earlier? Damn it. The Fox is a dragon. I found that out the hard way in a cave in the Hajar Mountains. But I didn’t even think she might have used mind control on one of the girls. They’re dragon, too. So that makes them susceptible to it.”

“
Grayson’s mouth went grim. “Yeah, maybe. And they’re so new here, they wouldn’t have known how to fight it. Not that many here are yet trained to do so.” He blew out a frustrated breath.

Cate motioned to Noah.
“Follow me. This way to their classrooms.” She set off at a run. Noah followed.

It never seemed more
important than this moment that he succeed at a mission. Because now, the stakes were personal. And God-damned if that didn’t scare the shit out of him. The Fox. The epithet whispered through his brain. Whoever had done this wouldn’t get away with it. Hoard thief or not. This was going to stop. Today. He’d save his family, even if it meant fighting the other dragon to the death. His or hers.

It didn’t matter to him.

All that mattered was
that she was stopped.

Ice flooded his veins. His thinking clarified. He’d find them and protect them. If it was the last thing he ever did. He had to find them. Nothing else mattered.

Chapter Twelve: Once A Witch Always A Witch

April ignored another call from Noah. Then another. Let the bastard suffer a little
more. She’d done her share, that’s for sure. And she was done pandering. She would listen to the messages. On her own schedule. He could stew for a bit.

The bells over the door tinkled. Mick O’Rielly
walked into the tea shop. He stalked in, all masculine energy and sexy Alpha. He wore a black t-shirt stretched tight over his broad shoulders and tucked into his worn jeans.

She watched him saunter to the counter. Slow. Steady. Lethal.
“Morning, Mick. What can I get you?”

“
April.” He nodded, his face impassive as usual. “You’re not answering your phone.” His voice held an accusatory note.

“
You didn’t try to call me— Wait.” April glared at him. “Shit. Can’t even have an unfriendly dispute with your own husband these days without him calling the neighbors? What the hell is up with that?” She braced her hands on her hips.

Mick
leaned a hip against the granite countertop near the cash register. “Look. I’m not sure what’s going on with you two. Not really. Only what I’ve pieced together.”

“
I—”

He held up a hand.
“No. I don’t want to know. We’re not dealing with normal circumstances here, April. And I’m on a need-to-know basis. I like you and Noah both. I don’t want to be dragged into the middle.”

“
God, don’t I know the circumstances are extraordinary? Dragons sure make everything more complicated.” She growled low in her throat. “Wish I could live without them.”

“
You don’t mean that, I know you don’t.”

She slapped a rag on the counter and wiped it down.
“Sure I do. Just like sometimes I wish I weren’t magickal at all. Wish I were oblivious to everything going on around me like all good mundanes.”

“
There are limitations and pitfalls to both worlds. The grass is always more enticing on the other side. The key is to learn to be happy with the grass we’re given. Right?”

“
I guess, if you’re a cow or a sheep. But I don’t have to like it.”

“
No, you don’t.” He threw a five on the counter. “Give me a large coffee. Black.”

April shuddered.
“You’re in a tea shop, Mick. Coffee is the devil.”

He laughed.
“No, it’s the elixir of life. And you sell quite a bit of it for running a tea shop.”

“
All right. Let me brew a fresh pot. Give me a minute.”

“
Okay. Once you get the pot started, could you please call your husband? I’d like to get some work of my own done this morning.”

She huffed out an exasperated breath, slammed the metal coffee filter filled with fresh grounds into place and hit the brew button.
“Dammit. Do you all need to stick together like this? Is it a dragon mage thing? Or just a male thing, this ganging up on me?”

“
Surly much? Maybe you need a strong cup of coffee first.”

“
Ah, no. You do not want to see me on caffeine. You think signs shout out to me from behind every situation now? You should see me when I’m jacked on coffee. It’s relentless. Seer on speed. Not a pretty sight.”

Mick chuckled. The sound was warm and rich and comforting. He was a good guy. She decided to give him a break.
“All right. I’ll call Noah. Just so you don’t worry your pretty little head.”

His brows drew low in a scowl, but his mouth twitched.

April picked up the cordless phone and punched in Noah’s cell number. “You called?” She knew she sounded bitchy, but she didn’t care. He deserved worse. Cheating bastard. It felt good to release her inner bitch. Freeing, somehow. God, she needed to do this more often.

“
April, it’s the girls. They’re . . . “

She stilled as his words punched her in the gut through the phone. How did he do that? Five small words, uttered in that deadly quiet, calm voice and she panicked.
She knew. Something bad had happened. Again. “What is it?”

She flushed hot, then
ice cold—her body blanched like green beans.

“
The girls. They’re gone.”

“
Gone? What do you mean they’re gone?”

“
Missing. I went to the academy to pick them up so I could make sure they were safe. And they’re missing.”

“
God. No.” She gripped the phone as if it were the last life line she’d ever hold. “Not the girls.” Fear gripped her tight in a stranglehold. She paced in silence, her brain whirring. “Where are they? Maybe they just wandered off.”

“
No. They’re no longer on campus.” Noah’s voice sounded calm, but she knew better. While he might give off a professional tranquility, underneath he would be seething—rage and calculated action warring for supremacy. “I don’t know where they are, but I will find them.”

“
She’s got them, doesn’t she?”

“
Grayson just scanned the footage. Yes, it’s her. The Fox.”

“
Stop calling her that. It gives her too much mystique, too much power. Call her what she is . . . a witch. It’s Morgana. And I know just where to find her and my girls—”

“
Wait. No. April. Stop.”

“
Gotta go, Noah. I’m going to get my daughters back from that two-faced witch now.” She slammed the phone back in its charging cradle and turned to find Mick staring at her, arms straight down at his sides, yet somehow looking ready for battle.

“
I’m going with you.”

April whipped off her apron and charged toward the door.
“Then you’d better keep up, Hockey boy. Because the witch is gonna pay if she harms one hair on those girls. She’s seen nothing compared to a protective mama when her babies are threatened. Dragon or not. Watch out.”

It took April exactly one minute to get across the street and barge into Morgana’s shop.
“Where are they?” she shouted.

She didn’t stop at the front door, but
barreled through to the back, not waiting for Morgana to appear to greet her. She’d catch her with them. She wouldn’t have time to hide.

But what she found in the back room was Morgana hunched over an old worktable with a mortar and
pestle, grinding some poor herbs to dust. She jerked around to face April, backing into the work bench. “What’s wrong?”

“
Don’t pretend with me. You took them. Where are they?” April spat the words, like they were something bitter and distasteful.

Mick followed hard on her heals. Morgana looked from one to the other and raised her hands as if to ward them off.
“I have no clue what you’re talking about. Why don’t you tell me what’s happened?”

“
Like you don’t know.” April lunged at the other woman.

Mick grabbed her around the waist and hauled her back.
“We need her to talk, April.”

April fought against him, trying to break free to get at the lying witch.
“Where are they? What have you done with them?” She fought against him.

“
Who?” Morgana cringed further away from April and Mick.

He picked her up and turned her around so he stood between the two women. Then he let her go, but put two hands gently on her shoulders
to keep her from attacking the other woman. “Breathe. You need to calm down.”

April’s whole body shook. Anger and fear so intermingled she couldn’t figure out which was which.

“You’re not going to do the girls any good by being so upset. Let’s talk to her. Only talk, not yell,” he cautioned. “Noah is sure it was her on the surveillance cameras?”

“
Yes. Grayson Cooper said it was Morgana who kidnapped the girls.”

Morgana gasped behind Mick.
“No!”

“
Stay right there.” He eased his hands off of April, waiting to see if she stayed or if she launched herself across the space at Morgana again. “Just talk.”

April didn’t say anything. But if a stare could go nuclear and kill, everyone in the room would be dead. She crossed her arms and grunted. That’s as much as he would get from her. She couldn’t promise anything, not when her
daughters’ lives were at stake.

Mick turned to Morgana and took a step closer, allowing April a clear view of the woman
. He stood ready just in case she attacked her again.

“
The Easton girls are missing from the academy. What do you know about it?”

“
Nothing. I swear.” She grabbed the rounded collar of her designer top. The cuff of her sleeve pulled up, giving April a clear view of the image there. A fox.

“
You deny you’re The Fox? With a tattoo like that?” April grabbed the woman’s wrist and turned it up so they could all study it.

The inky black
Celtic design looked sinister yet beautiful. The two foxes intertwined, facing each other. The skin beneath the tattoo was raised, like scar tissue. But only under the ink.

Some amorphous thought pricked
April, jabbing and niggling, but the full revelation wouldn’t solidify. The issue was tied to the image she’d gotten at the spring. She closed her eyes, trying to visualize the picture again, forcing herself to watch it play out a second time, every painful frame. One by one, the images of Noah’s torture and infidelity formed and flickered, a live reel in her brain.

Mick
broke the silence. “I know who and what you are, Morgana, and I don’t like you.”

“
You don’t know me.” Morgana bared her teeth at him and tugged her arm free of April’s fingers.

“
I don’t have to know you. I know your family—what they’ve done.”

“
So I’m paying for the sins of my mothers?”

Mick just stared at her, f
ierce anger radiating off of him. “You’ve got to know something about the girls’ whereabouts. They’ve got you on camera, taking them away.”

“
It wasn’t me.”

“
Prove it.”

“
Wait.” April lifted a hand and clutched her head. “She’s telling the truth.”

“
What? Now you believe her? A moment ago you didn’t.” Mick looked exasperated by her mercurial flip-flopping.

“
No. It wasn’t her. It’s all wrong. I was wrong.” April’s anger deflated as the image of the woman in the cave torturing Noah flared bright. But fear took its place in her chest, clutching tight and squeezing. Because it meant that she didn’t know where her girls might be right now. And she might not be able to save them.

April saw the scene play out in her head as plain as the hand in front of her own face. Morgana. The long, straight black hair. The
eerie light-colored eyes. Petite and curvy. Beautiful. She lifted her hand to touch Noah’s face. Her left hand. And there was the tattoo. On her left wrist. Not the right. “The tattoo is on the wrong wrist.”

“
What?” Mick asked, bewilderment clouding his face.

“
It wasn’t you, was it?” April stepped up to the workbench.

Morgana shook her head.
“No. I told you, it wasn’t me.”

“
You know who it was, though, don’t you?”

She nodded and looked at the floor.
“My sister, Iona.”

“
Your sister?” Mick inquired. “Your family records state she’s dead.” He paused. Then slapped his hand on his thigh. “Shit. Of course. How could I have missed that one? The family recorded a date, but attached no death certificate.”

Morgana studied the floor, then glanced at Mick before looking away again.
“No. She did not die. Records were altered a few years ago— when it was clear she’d gone rogue. You know what happens to rogue magickals, especially rogue dragons. The family could not risk consortium intervention or retribution. We’d hoped to change her mind. Then the lie became too embedded. Too deep.”

April cocked her head, studying Morgana’s face.
“Your twin sister is a rogue dragon mage?”

“
Yes. Although I haven’t seen her in years, I swear.”

“
Do you know where she might have taken my daughters?”

Morgana
shook her head again. “I don’t know this area. I cannot say for sure where she might be right now.”

“
Think,” April demanded. “What does she need?”

“
She needs power. She’d go to a place of power.”

“
The spring.”

Morgana
stared at her, confusion clouding her face. “A spring? That doesn’t sound right.”

“
How long have you been here?”

“
Only a few weeks, really.”