Page 16 of The Witching Hour

REN

Perhaps it shouldn’t have surprised me that it wasn’t until the morning of Yule—the winter solstice—that Celeste’s coven made their move. The first day of winter was supposed to be the day she married the High Priestess’s son.

We knew they’d been searching for her, but her masking spell had given us plenty of time to train. Vampire magic was incredibly powerful—especially daywalkers’ abilities—but it was different from what you would face when battling with witches. Our offensive power was geared toward taking down other vampires, not protecting from spells, incantations, and other skills like manipulating the elements.

Celeste’s abilities constantly awed me and made me hard as fuck. When any of the others with us left, our training sessions often ended up with a different and much more enjoyable type of acrobatics.

As we worked together, Celeste grew more confident, and her control over her power made her a force to be reckoned with.

Training Celeste had been valuable for us as well, giving us insight into how her coven would fight, the magic possessed by each member, and other useful knowledge. And we learned howto work together so that we’d stand opposite the coven as one powerful, deadly unit.

There were several mystical events during the year that boosted witch magic. Yule was a perfect day for the pairing of two powerful witches. I could only imagine what her coven had planned for the festivities. Some of Celeste’s random comments made me wonder if it all culminated with the consummation of the marriage bed. I tried not to think about it because I usually broke shit to keep myself from tracking down that asshole and putting him in the ground.

Honestly, I hadn’t told Celeste, but I’d had my feelers out, trying to see if I could locate him before everything came to a head. Killing him would have started a war. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time an assassination led to one—a well-learned lesson of whatnotto do when trying to avoid a fight.

Besides, I was confident that I could have “convinced” him to walk away from my consort and take the coven. However, it eventually became clear that he was staying on the coven’s land, hiding behind their protection like a coward.

Celeste was the most powerful witch in her former coven, but with the elemental event intensifying their sorcery, they might be able to detect her cloaking enchantment.

We’d only been asleep for a few hours when Celeste’s phone started vibrating, waking us. She reached out and grabbed it, then groaned and tossed it back in the nightstand. “Seriously?” she grumbled. “They can’t keep their harassment to the hours when they know I’m awake?”

Her parents. They were seriously grating on my last nerve.

When her cell vibrated again, I leaned over her, snatched the device, and shut it off completely.

A minute later, my phone began buzzing. “For fuck’s sake,” I muttered. I rolled onto my back and picked it up, frowning at the unknown number on the screen.

I sent the caller to voicemail and was about to turn the device off when the same number popped up again. Celeste turned over and snuggled into me, her sleepy gaze peering at my screen.

“What the heck?” she hissed, sitting up, her whole body going rigid.

“You know who it is?”

She nodded and murmured, “That’s my dad’s number.”

My eyebrows shot up. In the months we’d been together, she’d had plenty of calls from her parents. But not once had they reached out to me.

“Do you want me to answer it?”

She bit her lip for a second, then put out her hand, palm up. Reluctantly, I gave her the phone. I’d really been hoping she would finally let me handle them.

Celeste pressed the accept button before putting the call on speaker.

“Dad?” she answered hesitantly.

He sounded unsure when he confirmed, “I-yes. It’s me.”

“Okay. Um, why are you calling Ren?”

“Because you won’t answer our calls,” he snapped.

I opened my mouth to tell him to go fuck himself, but he sighed and spoke again.

“I'm not calling to fight with you, Celeste.”

I sat up and shuffled back against the headboard, then grasped my consort and put her on my lap so I could wrap her up in my arms.

She practically collapsed against me, some of her muscles losing their tension. She was clearly befuddled by her father’s intentions. “Um…okay. I’m glad. But then what are you calling for?”