Read Online Legacy & Spellbound by Nancy Holder - Free Book Online Page B

“Anderson, I’ve been crushing on you for years. Haven’t you ever noticed?”
    â€œOh.” She was taken aback.
Tommy?
    Tommy the joker, who never took her seriously but who was always there, always listening, always commiserating over everything that ever happened to her?
    Hello?
    â€œYears,” he repeated, as if trying to penetrate her astonishment. “Since we were babies, practically.”
    â€œOh.”
She gave him a shy smile. “Hi.” It wasn’t poetry, but it was all she could think to say. Somehow, though, it was all she needed to say.
    He smiled back. “Hi.” Gave her hand another wag. “Not so bad?”
    â€œNot so bad,” she agreed. “But we’re still babies.” “Not so much.” He pecked her cheek.
    â€œMew.”
    A cat jumped up onto Amanda’s lap. Startled, she jumped and then settled as the cat began to purr and curled up as though to go to sleep.
    â€œWell, where did you come from?” she asked the bedraggled-looking feline. “Are you Rose’s cat?”
    â€œHer name is Astarte. She is Nicole’s. She came to Nicole a few nights before she was kidnapped. She has joined us in the search,” Pablo told her.
    Amanda felt her stomach twist into a tight knot. A few nights before she was kidnapped …
Did this cat come to her when Holly drowned Hecate?
she wondered. A chill rippled up her spine.
    Philippe looked over at Amanda and Tommy. He looked envious. “They found each other,” he murmured.
    â€œWell, they didn’t have far to look,” Sasha said dryly. She looked expectantly at Holly.
    Holly cleared her throat. “As you know, there was a battle, and I … I made contact with a veiled woman. She undid it somehow.”
    â€œWhat was her price?” Sasha asked. As Holly flushed, she pressed; “It was worse than the cat, wasn’t it?”
    Holly narrowed her eyes. “That’s my business.”
    â€œNo, it’s not, not when you’re part of a coven. We all have to agree on things. It’s the way of the Mother Coven.”
    Jer’s mother was putting Holly on the defensive, and she didn’t like it. Holly threw back her head and shot back, “And that’s why the Mother Coven is so weak, Sasha. Look at us. They can’t even protect us, while the Supreme Coven kidnaps some of us and kills others. They’re lame.”
    Sasha blinked. “I can’t believe you can say that, when—”
    â€œAlors,”
Philippe said, raising his hands. He turned his attention to Holly. “I beg your pardon, but we must move to action, not discuss philosophy.”
    â€œYou’re right,” she said tersely. “What’s done is done. What I did or said …” She exhaled. “I’m not certainwhat I agreed to, in all honesty. But it saved us.”
    â€œSometimes that’s not the right thing to do,” Sasha insisted.
    â€œWell, when you get down off your high horse, let me know.” Holly turned on her heel.
    â€œHolly,” Philippe called, following her as she stomped into the kitchen. She looked around, found Rose’s electric kettle, and lifted it to see if there was water in it. Satisfied that it had recently been filled, she plugged it in and rummaged through the scattering of tea things on a silver tray for a tea bag.
    â€œYou’re the one Nicole called,” Philippe said, leaning against the white-tiled counter. “It was then that James and Eli were alerted to our location. Then that José Luís was killed.”
    She hunched her shoulders as she selected a Prince of Wales tea bag and smoothed the string away from the little pouch of fragrant tea. “Are you trying to guilt-trip me into saving her? Because you don’t need to. I said I’d do it and I will.”
    â€œI’m only saying that I care about her. We care about her,” he amended.
    â€œNo, you