Magnolia: Hidden Realms of Silver Lake (Four Sisters of Fate Book 4) Read online

  He’d hinted often enough that he wanted to marry Crystal, but now he wasn’t so sure. His indecision had run rampant in prison. He couldn’t just break up with Crystal though without knowing for sure Greer and he were meant to be together. What he worried about was if he and Crystal did split, she’d be devastated. The poor woman had more or less been abandoned as a teenager. Her dad had killed her mom when Crystal was only seventeen. Thankfully, once he’d been imprisoned, she went to college and never looked back.

  He felt terrible that Crystal, a human, looked up to Blake as her hero. If only he could be sure she’d move on if he told her he wasn’t ready to settle down with her—now or ever—Blake would approach Greer faster than water evaporated on a hot day.

  “Did they feed you okay?” Crystal asked with such sincerity his guilt surfaced once more.

  It took a moment to focus on her question. “The food was okay. I was still healing from everything that I really didn’t care what they gave me.”

  She wrapped an arm around his waist and led him to her car, acting as if he were an invalid. He slid into the passenger seat while she walked around to the other side. “Do you want to go to your place?” she asked. “Or mine?”

  The implication was that she believed he’d want to make love with her, which was a reasonable assumption. Hell, they had discussed moving in together but never had. “My place. I need to change.”

  He loved Crystal, but after what just happened, he wasn’t quite ready to run down to the jewelry store and buy that ring. Not when his dreams had been filled with Greer’s face. The whole thing was absurd. He and Crystal were perfect for each other. They were both into finance, both loved to run in the mornings, and they both adored seafood. It was a match made in heaven—or so he believed.

  Then he’d met Greer and everything in his life turned upside down. For now, he’d pretend—or sort of pretend—that everything was back to normal with Crystal. Before he told her he wanted to reevaluate things, he needed to see Greer again. If nothing else, he had to make sure she really was his mate. Now healthy, his dragon would let him know for sure.

  “Steve told me that something took over your body? I can’t even imagine what that was like.”

  Blake really didn’t want to talk about those few hours, but Crystal deserved to know. He’d just leave out why he was in the jewelry store in the first place. “I felt a slight pain at first, followed by a mind blowing explosion in my brain. Then nothing. It was as if I didn’t exist while this thing was in my body. The next thing I remember, I woke up on the floor of a warehouse, and I hurt everywhere. Apparently, I had burn marks on my chest, my back, and my arms.”

  “Oh my heavens. Did this person shoot fire at you?”

  “I wish. Then I would have shifted to protect myself. No, according to the woman I kidnapped, the injuries were due to some dark entity leaving my body. The cops have seen this kind of thing before. From what they have figured out, the entity took over all of my thought processes and made me do things I never would have done on my own. When it left my body, instead of exiting in one spot, it left in multiple places, which was why I lived.”

  Crystal hugged him. “Where is this entity now?”

  “He’s dead.”

  “Thank goodness.”

  When they arrived at his place, he needed some time to himself, even though he understood Crystal would want to spend time with him. When she pulled into his driveway he turned to her. “I’m going to shower and then take a nap. I haven’t really slept in a few days.”

  She placed a hand on his arm. “You should rest. How about if I come over later and cook you some dinner?”

  Crystal looked so hopeful that he didn’t have the heart to tell her no—but he needed to. “Could I have a rain check?”

  Her gaze lowered. “Sure.”

  Blake’s heart broke seeing her like this. “Tomorrow night I’ll take you out to dinner. I’m sure you would enjoy a break from cooking.”

  “If that’s what you want, we can go out. Call me, okay?”

  “I will.” He leaned over and kissed her, hoping for that rush of excitement that always came when they were together. While the contact was pleasant, it wasn’t what it had been before. Maybe it was the trauma of being possessed, arrested, and then stuffed in a nasty jail cell that affected his psyche.

  “Get some rest,” she said.

  “I plan to.”

  As soon as he stepped into his house, a sense of freedom surrounded him. Jail had sucked, and he never wanted to return. Closure however would never completely come, because he would never learn why he had been targeted. All he’d done was enter a jewelry store to buy an engagement ring for Crystal and ended up almost dying. The only positive—for him but not for Crystal—was that he’d met Greer. The chance existed that she would tell him he was full of shit, and that they weren’t mates after all.

  Damn, he knew nothing about the enigmatic woman other than she worked in a jewelry store and was from one of the most prominent family in all of Tarradon. For all he knew, she was already mated to someone else.

  Crap. Blake headed to the shower, hoping the hot water would clear his head.

  “You should be resting,” Tory told Greer as she added a pair of sardonyx earrings to the display selection.

  Greer Caspian set her purse under the counter and grabbed the polishing cloth to clean some smudges off the glass display. Her cousin was so protective, but Greer knew what she needed. “I can’t rest. I need to be working.”

  “I know the sedative has worn off, but what about the emotional trauma? You seem a bit off. Distracted perhaps.”

  “I just walked in. How can you tell?” Greer waved the cloth and then set it down. Tory had a sixth sense about things. “You’re right. I am off, and it’s not physical as much as mental.”

  Even though there weren’t any customers in the store, Greer really didn’t want to hear what her cousin would say when she told her what, or rather who, she’d been dreaming about. Tory was the take-the-bulls-by-the-horns type of woman. Knowing her, she’d say to march over to the bank and ask Blake out. If they were mates, she needed to find out. To hell with his potential fiancée. Greer however possessed a bit more finesse than that.

  Tory leaned against the counter, her brows pinched. “Did you have a nightmare or something?”

  “No. Surprisingly, this has nothing to do with the dark entity and everything to do with Blake.” Crap. She hadn’t meant to blurt that out.

  “The man who stabbed you with the needle and then kidnapped you?”

  “Yes.” She would have a hard time articulating what she felt. Mostly because she was confused. “Did Anderson say what kind of guy Blake was?” While he seemed nice, he could be some thug for all she knew. So what if he worked at the local bank. Their cousin, Anderson, had been in charge of the investigation, so he would have done a deep dive on the guy.

  Tory shrugged. “Just that he works at a bank.”

  “He told me that much.” The last thing she remembered before the incident was Blake walking into the store and asking about an engagement ring. That meant those weird, albeit rather erotic, pulses she’d felt when she first touched him must have been a result of the trauma of being sedated and then kidnapped, and not because he was her mate. Darn.

  Yes he is, her dragon finally said.

  Now she talks? Her animal had been silent all night when she needed answers the most.

  “Did Anderson say anything else about him?” Greer asked as innocently as possible.

  Tory placed a hand on her arm. “Why the interest? You said you didn’t believe he was responsible for what happened.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Why does it matter who he is?”

  Greer normally kept things to herself, but she needed advice. So what if her cousin didn’t have a mate of her own. “This is going to sound really weird, but when I was in the cage and first saw Blake on the floor, the moment I touched him, a kind of excitement raced throu
gh me.”

  “Excitement? As in lust?”

  She wished her cousin didn’t sound so surprised. “I’m afraid so.”

  “Since you told me he came into the store to buy an engagement ring, surely you aren’t thinking there could be something between you.”

  Okay, it did sound lame. “I guess not. I should just move on, but I can’t stop thinking about him.”

  Tory placed a hand on Greer’s arm. “Greer? You don’t really believe he’s your mate, do you?”

  When she said it like that, perhaps it had been wishful thinking. Oh, sure, Greer acted like the perfect businesswoman, always putting her job first, but deep in her heart, she longed for a family. “I don’t know what to think.”

  Tory lowered her hand. “Then you need to find out!”

  Just as she’d made that announcement, the doorbell to the store rang. When Greer looked up, her heart jerked.

  Tory checked out the newcomer, looked back at Greer, and then tossed her a sly smile. “Lookie, lookie. Why if it isn’t Mr. Blake Masters,” she said under her breath.

  Greer’s stomach tumbled. Her cousin had seen the security footage and knew who he was. The big question was whether he was here to buy that ring or speak to her.

  HIDDEN REALMS OF SILVER LAKE (Paranormal)

  Awakened By Flames (book 1) – FREE

  Seduced By Flames (book 2)

  Kissed By Flames (book 3)

  Destiny In Flames (book 4)

  Passionate Flames (book 5)

  FOUR SISTERS OF FATE: HIDDEN REALMS OF SILVER LAKE (Paranormal)

  Poppy (book 1)

  Primrose (book 2)

  Acacia (book 3)

  Magnolia (book 4)

  WERES & WITCHES OF SILVER LAKE

  A Magical Shift (book 1)

  Catching Her Bear (book 2)

  Surge of Magic (book 3)

  The Bear’s Forbidden Wolf (book 4)

  Box Set(books 1-4)

  Her Reluctant Bear (book 5)

  Freeing His Tiger (book 6)

  Protecting His Wolf (book 7)

  Waking His Bear (book 8)

  Melting Her Wolf’s Heart (book 9)

  Her Wolf’s Guarded Heart (book 10)

  His Rogue Bear (book 11)

  PACK WARS (Paranormal)

  Training Their Mate (book 1) – FREE

  Claiming Their Mate (book 2)

  Rescuing Their Virgin Mate (book 3)

  Loving Their Vixen Mate (book 4)

  Fighting For Their Mate (book 5)

  Enticing Their Mate (book 6)

  Boxed Set (books 1-3)

  Boxed Set (books 1-4)

  Complete Box Set (books 1–6)

  MONTANA PROMISES (Full length contemporary)

  Promises of Mercy (book 1)

  Foundations For Three (book 2)

  Montana Fire (book 3)

  Montana Promises Box Set (books 1-3)

  Hart To Hart (book 4)

  Burning Seduction (book 5)

  Montana Promises Complete Box Set (books 1–5)

  ROCK HARD, MONTANA (contemporary novellas)

  Montana Desire (book 1)

  Awakening Passions (book 2)

  PLEDGED TO PROTECT (contemporary romantic suspense)

  Panic and Passion (book 1)

  Danger and Desire (book 2)

  Terror and Temptation (book 3)

  Pledged To Protect Box Set (books 1–3)

  HIDDEN HILLS SHIFTERS (Paranormal)

  An Unexpected Diversion (book 1) – FREE

  Bare Instincts (book 2)

  Shifting Destinies (book 3)

  Box Set (books 1–3)

  Embracing Fate (book 4)

  Promises Unbroken (book 5)

  Bear ’N Dirty (book 6)

  Hidden Hills Shifters Complete Box Set

  A NASH MYSTERY (Contemporary)

  Sidearms and Silk (book 1)

  Black Ops and Lingerie (book 2)

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