Crescent Legacy Nicole Taylor (top young adult novels .TXT) 📖

in his hands and kissed me hard. “Cac, I almost didn’t think you’d say yes…”

“Put it on,” I demanded. “It isn’t real until the ring is on.”

“Is that true?”

“Dunno, but it sounds like the official thing to do.” I held out my hand and wiggled my fingers.

“Like I said,” Boone murmured, sliding the silver and gold ring on. “Untold amounts of chaos.”

“I’ll agree with the chaos but untold amounts?” I made a face. “I’m disputing that.”

Abruptly, Sean shot to his feet and exclaimed, “Maggie!”

The entire pub fell silent as he leaped around the table and knelt at Maggie’s feet.

“Sean, you’re makin’ a scene,” she said through her teeth. “You’re stealin’ Boone’s moment, you eejit!”

“I love you, Maggie!” he exclaimed, clutching at her legs. “I’ve been fightin’ it for so long, but it’s time!”

Roy snorted, earning himself a kick from Mary under the table. The cutlery jingled, and beer sloshed from the old farmer’s pint glass.

Maggie shot me a look that said ‘help,’ and I rose to my feet.

“Sean McKinnon!” I exclaimed. “I always thought you were a gentleman.”

He stared at me, looking vacant, blinked twice, then let Maggie go.

“Even when you were calling me a witch,” I added, much to the everyone’s amusement.

“You’ve got to know when a woman doesn’t want your attention, boy,” Roy bellowed. “Go dtachta grá leatromach do bhall fearga!”

The entire pub burst out into riotous laughter, but as usual, I had no clue what any of it meant. Leaning over to Boone, I opened my mouth to ask him, but his seat was empty.

He was gone.

Chapter 9

It was freezing outside.

I huddled into my jacket and shoved my gloved hands into my pockets as deep as they could go. My breath vaporized in plumes as I glanced up and down the darkening street. The wool Cheese Wheel Aoife had knitted the gloves in was soft against my skin, and the matching beanie was toasty over my delicate ears.

It wasn’t like Boone to disappear like he had. Not after asking me to marry him in front of the whole village. I hoped everything was okay, and he wasn’t outside hyperventilating, but I couldn’t take any chances. There were too many magical unknowns hanging over our heads for me not to go and check.

“Boone?” I called, my voice coming out softer than I’d intended.

Great, I was freaking out like the heroine in a horror movie.

I took a step forward into the twilight. The days had become shorter and shorter the more winter had set in, and it got full-on dark at four p.m. It was madness. Did the sun set that early in Australia? I hardly remembered.

After a second, I sensed Boone further down the road. Sighing in relief, I stepped forward with more confidence. He was under the hawthorn, but I didn’t get far when I realized he wasn’t alone.

He was talking to another man who looked a lot like him. Tall, scruffy, dark hair, leather jacket, big boots. It could be his twin, but I’d never seen the guy before in my life. He was a stranger, and it only meant one thing. Stranger danger.

My immediate reaction was to launch into action and blast the guy with my magic, but something told me to stop. Stop, wait, listen. I felt an unknown force tugging me backward like little hands grasping at my jacket. Glancing down, there was nothing there, but I heeded the warning, anyway.

Ducking back behind the cover of Molly McCreedy’s, I steadied my breathing and cast out my hearing.

“It’s me. Dub,” the man said in a thick Irish accent.

“I don’t know you,” Boone said, his voice full of doubt.

“Of course, you don’t, but you did.”

“All I know is that you’ve got one eye,” Boone said, his voice sounding more like a growl with every word he spoke. “And I know a wolf who lost an eye…”

The man—who seemed to be called Dub—sighed and threw his hands into the air. “You always had the power to unlock your memories, Dain. She took them for your own good, you know.”

“What are you talkin’ about? Who took them?” Boone stepped forward and grasped the lapels of the man’s coat and almost lifted him clear off the ground. “You better start answerin’ before I rip your head off.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Dub shoved Boone back and dusted off his coat.

“I can sense the magic in you, shapeshifter. Start explainin’ or…”

“Or your little Crescent will come out here and smack me ass?” Dub laughed and thumped Boone on the shoulder. “Unlikely. We’re under the hawthorn for starters. She wouldn’t risk damagin’ it.”

“She’s got a good aim.”

Damn right, I did.

“I’ve had enough of your smart mouth.” The man was getting more exasperated as their conversation went on. “She’s going to be so mad at me for this.”

I felt the burst of magic before Boone did. Even with the hawthorn shielding them, the wave washed over me like sludge, weighing down my limbs. Wait, a shapeshifter couldn’t use magic like that.

Boone gasped and clutched his head, his eyes widening.

“What did you do?” he exclaimed.

“What you were too cowardly to,” Dub said with a sneer. “You were always the runt of the litter.”

“No, no, no,” Boone murmured, looking distraught. “I cannae… She cannae…”

“Dain,” he said, placing a hand on Boone’s shoulder. “It’s time to come home. Mother is waiting for you.”

“Mother?”

“Think about it,” Dub said with a sneer. “Think about it real hard.”

“Carman.”

I gasped. Slapping a hand over my mouth, I darted back around the corner and held my breath as my heart slammed into the wall of my chest cavity.

Boone’s forgotten identity! He was Carman’s son? She’d locked away his memories and sent his brothers after him. Why? Was it all an elaborate trick to get to Aileen and me?

I didn’t know, but it explained a great deal. Boone wasn’t just a shapeshifter. He was half witch. The things he’d known I’d attributed to Aileen teaching him, but what if he knew because of his own forgotten witch Legacy? Suddenly,