Weddings Bells Times Four (8 page)

Turning the stove on, Beth stared at him. Avril had brown curly hair with dark brown eyes. He stood about six feet tall. He wasn’t bad looking. “How old are you?”

He grinned and cocked his head to the side. “I’m over 140.”

She shrugged. “Age doesn’t really matter. I’ve seen many who are older than me but act like fools. I guess it’s all about how you look at life. You haven’t found your mate?” She asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee and joined him at the Island.

“No, but then again I haven’t been really looking. For the last 60 years I’ve buried myself in the vault studying the old words. Plus, having no social skills doesn’t help.” He shrugged. “I’ve set up the trust funds and mailed off the paperwork to their legal guardians. I’ve also arranged for the bills for the funerals to be paid for. No one will have to pay anything for your friends' resting place.”

“You and I have a lot more in common than I thought. Growing up my parents were so worried about Brian finding me that I was more or less confined to this house. I was lucky to go to school. They had set enchantments all throughout the school. No one could come near it if they meant to harm, but I’m afraid I still didn’t get to go to football games, dances and things like that. So I know what it is to be socially deprived.” She sat back and took a drink of her coffee. “Thank you for getting all that stuff done for me. I just can’t seem to concentrate on anything.”

Reaching over, Avril squeezed her arm. “You just woke up. Give yourself some time to adjust. How about we go over the plans for you wedding? I brought my planner, I have the different menu’s and I even brought...” He bent down and pulled out a four inch folder setting it in front of her. “In here I have placed every picture I could find of wedding dresses. I thought you could go through it and see what you like.”

“You did all this for me?” Her eyes watered as she ran her finger over the binder. Looking up, he shrugged.

“I was waiting for you to wake. I had to have something to keep me occupied.” He actually looked embarrassed. She laughed. Setting her mug down, Beth leaned over and hugged him. “Thank you so much. This means a lot to me.”

“What the hell is going in here?” Dred growled behind them.

She placed a small kiss on Avril’s cheek. “Ignore him. Now what did you find out about the ceremony with the four of us?” Beth flipped open the binder, but didn’t get to see anything when she was picked up and thrown over Dred’s shoulder.

“You -keep your hands off our woman and you…hold still,” he ordered and smacked her ass hard. “We need to speak with you, now hush.”

“We were busy, you big jerk! Put me down.” She tried to get up, but he held on tight as he made his way through the hallway and out the back door. “Avril, I’ll be right back.”

“No, she won’t. Wrap it up, Avril, the rest of the night she’ll be with us. Edward said to tell you that you had the night off,” Dred yelled as he lowered her down in front of Edward.

“What? I was busy.” She brushed her hair out of her face and glared up at Edward. “I thought you were dealing with the three amigos.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Edward stared down at her. “You’re angry. Why?”

She closed her eyes and looked down at the ground, counting to ten. “It’s not important. What do you need? I have stuff on the stove and Avril and I were starting to go over the wedding information he’d gathered for me.”

He said nothing, all three of them stared at her and waited.

“Fine, you want to know what is wrong, let me explain it to you since it’s obvious it meant nothing to you. First, I get up the nerve to open up to you, really open up.” She threw up her arms and started to pace back and forth on the patio.

“Don’t you realize that I’m not used to all this…” She pointed to them.. “I’m used to being alone, not dealing with anyone.” She stopped and stared up at Edward. “But I promised myself I’d really try and I have been. Each day I’ve been here, I’ve given myself a goal to do something I normally didn’t do. Today’s goal when I woke up, was to share something important with you that I would normally keep to myself. The whole time I couldn’t move, I heard you three talking, I knew I had to overcome my need to do things by myself, to ask for help, to lean on you when I needed it.”

She watched as Edward dropped his arms and frowned. “I hurt you…”

Her shoulders and back were ridged as she looked out at the forest. He’d hurt her and he didn’t even know he’d done it. “I’m sorry. I should have paid better attention to what you were saying. My only defense is I was worried about our other mates with a threat being in the house.”

Beth turned and looked at them. “I was thinking about that. Since I didn’t know who these men were and you obviously didn’t know them, the house let them in when it shouldn’t have. I know there is a way for the house to tune into them as it has us, but I just can’t remember.”

“We’ll worry about that later.” He titled her head back and stared down at her. “I’m sorry I didn’t take what you were saying seriously. I know this has been hard on you and we’ll get through it. My words were not meant to hurt, but to get you to understand I want…no scratch that-I want you to need me. All three of us were hurt that you didn’t trust us to protect you.”

“That’s not true.” Beth tried to pull back, but Dred stepped behind her and held her in place. “Edward, no matter where I was in the house the spell would have found me, don’t you understand? It was personalized. It would have made itself into the house without me even moving. I was worried that my brother would get you when he saw you. I needed you three to be safe so you would take care of me. I knew you wouldn’t allow me to go. So I was depending on you.”

“What do you mean by personalized?” he reached down and started to unbutton her shirt.

As she tried to push his hands away, Dred reached around and grabbed her arms, holding onto them. “Hold still and explain.”

Her blouse was stripped from her as he cupped her breast. She tried to speak, but each time he’d run his finger over the exposed nipple, she’d shake.

“How can I explain if you keep doing… that?” She squirmed and he could smell her heat.

He stopped long enough for her to compose herself and speak. Behind her, Dred reached around her and slipped the skirt from her.

“A witch or wizard can create a spell for a specific person if they have something personal of that person’s. It’s obvious my brother has something that was mine, including my best friend,” she mumbled the last part as she looked away from him.

Edward went to scoop her up in his arms when the Governor came running around the corner and straight to him. Edward yanked his woman behind him as both Rock and Dred crouched down, ready to attack. “Stop! Explain this interruption before you perish!” he ordered.

The man didn’t move a muscle, realizing his mistake at once. “Attack! The house of Morris Clan along with some of the most powerful wizards has attacked a pack of wolves in Augusta. The Smartwess family has taken what survivors are left into their homes, protecting them for now.”

“So it starts. Gather my council and have them ensemble in the Wondering Hall. Governor, I want double the guards around the castle. Make sure my Queen’s family is secure. There are protective wards on the grounds. We’ll follow shortly,” Edward ordered. He scooped up Beth in his arms making his way into the house.

“You have ten minutes to pack what you need. Avril, I know you’re still here. Pack all her personal papers she’ll need. I want this place sealed when we leave.” He looked down at his woman and kissed her forehead. “I don’t know when we’ll be back. I’m sorry, Little Witch, but we must be at my home for now.”

She nodded and hugged him. “You might want to ask for help?” she said looking towards the kitchen and the secret door, before running upstairs. “Avril don’t forget the wedding stuff and shut off the oven. I’ll call ahead and have the cooks start preparing food for everyone now.”

“You know she was born for this?” Dred said and smiled only for a minute. “I know of this pack that was attacked. I didn’t want to say anything in front of her, but it is our cousin’s pack. He’s attacking family. I need to inform my grandfather and father. They’ll pass the word down for the other packs to be on high alert.”

He nodded. “That’s fine, but I need you here with us. Have your pack pull everyone to the castle. I want their families protected inside the walls. We’ll set up a guard watch when we get back to homestead. Rock, we need to set up some reason to empty this town. They’ll become a target if we don’t and our Queen will not forgive herself if anything happens to them.”

“Maybe a chemical spill,” Rock said out loud. “I can have a few of the men set up sentries to the town’s exits. We’ll take down numbers when it’s safe for them to come back.”

“Very good idea, don’t make it too bad though, we want to allow them to come back. Also…Avril.” He yelled but didn’t need to, the man was there in a minute.

“Already called the bank. Just need to know how much for each family?” He covered the phone with his hand.

“You’re good. Give each family $5000 and also invite them to our hotel in Florida. Tell them a week stay is on us with passes to Disney World.” He made his way down the stairs as Avril informed his banker, while turning off the oven and gathering Beth’s things.

“We’re damn lucky this town is small.” Dred mumbled going to make his calls while he dealt with the house and the
Yewlocks.

Upon entering his new office, Edward took a deep breath and relaxed. The house was already in automatic shutdown mode and would be protected while they were away. What was really surprising was the fact that it seemed to reassure him that everything had been taken care of. Even the
Yewlocks
around him moved faster and some of them even disappeared from the room.

Castle protected.
Was injected into his mind and at once Edward knew that somehow these entities were going to even reach out to his home to protect their woman. He bowed and kneeled. “Thank you.” He honored them they only way he knew how.

That is when he knew, Beth’s Mother and Father would not be making any more trips. They’d been waiting for him to enter this room and take control. He was now responsible for their daughter, but he would have help from these creatures Edward still didn’t understand.

One day soon, though, Edward would make sure he took the time to gather all the information he needed. He would provide whatever they needed to survive. A symbiotic relationship is what they would have.

The house swayed. His acceptance and thanks had been accepted. He stood and left the room, closing the door behind him. The next few months would be would be hard on all of them, but knowing that their woman would have the extra protection eased the worry somewhat.

He headed up the stairs as the house locked the downstairs up and he walked through the kitchen to the hallway.

“It has been done. I’ll meet you at the castle.” Avril turned to leave, but Edward placed his hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

“Thank you Avril, you’ve proven yourself to me again.” He nodded and Beth frowned at him.

“Don’t think you’re getting him back. He’s my assistant.” She stepped in front of him and Avril grinned before leaving the house.

“Really, you’ve become that attached to him? Maybe I should have a word with him when we get back to the castle?” he picked her up and swung her over his shoulder. “Grab her bags. Dred and Rock make sure…oh never mind.” He was about to say make sure the house was locked, but it was closing the door as he pushed his Little Witch into the limo.

He glanced up at the house and watched as shutters were shut and some kind of shield was placed around the entire outside. Edward knew others wouldn’t be able to see it, but since he was connected to it and everything around it, he now saw things that no one else did.

“Come on. You’re going to be late for your own meeting,” Beth said and pulled him down into the limo. She crawled onto his lap as soon as he was seated.

“Something happened downstairs, didn’t it?” she asked when Dred and Rock climbed in to join them.

“I don’t know what yet, but I was told the castle would be protected too. So we’ll all find out when we get there.”

***

Before they even pulled onto the road to the castle, Beth knew something was wrong. Her stomach ached and she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. “He’s been here. There’s death.” She turned away from the window and buried her face in Edward’s shirt.

“How do you…” His words died and she looked out to see Nora’s oldest brother’s body cut in half, hanging from a tree limb.

“Wayne, why would she kill her own brother?” her body started to shake and Edward wrapped his arms around her as Dred and Rock both scooted up and started to caress her, their touch comforting her as some of Edward’s men worked to cut the man down.

“We’ll bury him…” Edward started to say, but she jerked her head up.

“No, he has to be buried outside the walls. Not inside. Brian could have planted something inside his body. You must inform all your men that nothing that is dead be brought in the castle. I’ve seen him put enchantments on dead things as a way to get inside where he wants to be.”

The limo stopped and Edward rolled the window down as one of the men came over. Edward explained what needed to be done and the man nodded. “I’ll inform the others to watch. Thank you Sir. My Queen.”

She would never get used to the title, but the respect the man had in his eyes eased some of the discomfort.

“They’ll bury him in the old cemetery just outside of town. It sits behind our property, but it is also protected. Nothing will disturb his rest there,” Edward said and kissed the top of her head as the limo once again pushed forward toward the inner grounds.

“I am surprised he didn’t put the body closer…” That is when she felt it. The warm sensation as soon as they drove over the small bridge and up to the road to the inner sanctum. “How did they? Wow, they are powerful. No wonder Brian wants them.” Dred and Rock nodded, but Edward said nothing.