MAKING MAGICKAL ALLIANCES: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Novel Leigh Raventhorne (read the beginning after the end novel TXT) 📖

With battle cries that sounded far too much like they meant them, the pixies surged forward, swords slashing at the shields. Every blow was not only stopped, but repelled, throwing the pixies back. They bounced back and went in again, only to be repelled once more.

“Fall back, guys. That was perfect.” The pixies flew back to the cockpit roof, not as bothered by the wind created by the speed of the boat as I would have thought. The witches—and Sam—dropped their shields.

“Well, at least we know these work,” Tess said. “I still wouldn’t mind a little . . .” She motioned at my wrist, her face hopeful.

“Tess, you’re going to come into your own magick soon enough. But,” I looked up at the row of pixies. “Griff, would you mind if we used you to test something?”

The buck zipped over faster than I could blink.

“Would you sit on Tess’s shoulder while she puts up her shield, please?”

“No problem.” He flew over and perched on her shoulder, looking like a rakish, male version of Tinkerbell.

“Tess, put your shield up, but be ready to drop it fast if Griff says he feels anything odd. Griff, if you feel a drain on your magick, any at all, let Tess know.” He nodded, not looking even the slightest bit nervous—unlike Tess.

She grasped the pendant and I could feel it as she pulled on the magick within. I noticed she didn’t say the words and wondered if that was intentional or if she simply forgot. Knowing Tess, it could be either. The shield sprang up and around them both, brighter and stronger than when she’d tried on her own just minutes ago. Griff didn’t look as if he’d noticed anything out of the ordinary. Tess grinned happily and let the shield drop.

“How do you feel?” she asked Griff.

With a shrug, he shook his head. “Was I supposed to feel something?”

Mistress, I’m not sure, but . . .

Did you seriously just call me Mistress? Call me Roxie, or even Roxanne, unless you want me to take your name back. What was it with titles in this world?

There was a second of silence, then, As you wish. But once given, a name cannot be revoked. I accepted it and it became mine. All I wanted to say was that the potential for symbiosis between your kind, even those considered lesser, and the fae is not something the fae wish to be known.

Okay then. I hadn’t known about any kind of symbiosis—I’d only hoped the shielding armour Griff wore would help give Tess’s own magick a little boost. Just out of curiosity . . . how would you know this? Aren’t you, like, a new, er, entity or whatever?

I spent thousands of years saturated in fae magick. With that magick comes knowledge. A lot of it. I am . . . still sorting through it all.

Thousands? I thought Astra had said hundreds.

Hundreds in her court, yes. But I was brought, along with other . . . gifts . . . from an older court. I do not remember much from that time.

My mind was reeling from this information, as well as the rest of what she’d said. I filed it away and came back to the matter at hand.

“You know it’s kind of freaky when you do that, right?” Tess asked. “I hope you aren’t going to do that in the middle of a fire fight with whoever we’re up against, because you’ll make a pretty easy target if you do.”

I ignored the indignant mutter from Trixie that she would never let that happen. “Yeah, sorry. Just a lot going on up here, right now.” I pointed to my head. It was getting a bit crowded in there these days.  She had a valid point, though. “Griff, are you sure you feel okay?”

“Right as rain. Maybe better.” He looked a little surprised as he said this, fluttering his wings. His glow did seem a bit brighter than it had been before.

“Okay. Do you think you could stay close to Tess if we do end up in a fight?” He looked unsure, as if the prospect of missing out on a battle was daunting, so I added, “She’ll need a brave protector, just in case.”

He puffed out his chest and patted her neck. “Of course! She will come to no harm with my sword at the ready.”

It was a good thing he couldn’t see either her eye roll or the ‘really?’ expression she gave me. But then she noticed the envious faces of the firm’s coven and relaxed, a small smile on her face.

Rand touched my shoulder to get my attention. “There’s a problem.” I turned to him, realizing the boat had slowed, the engine quieter than it had been before. “The signal says Harris should be less than a half mile in that direction,” he pointed toward the front of the boat. “But there’s nothing there.”

Jeremy had come out onto the deck, glaring into the darkness ahead of us as if his anger could force whoever or whatever we were looking for to appear. Cappy killed the lights at a word from the crow shifter, but the moon reflected off the water in the clear night, allowing us to see out a long way easily. A small, dark form skimmed low over the water, angling for the boat. Just before it reached us, something leapt straight up from the water beneath where its shadow passed. My breath caught in my throat, but the small form rolled and evaded whatever had attempted to make it a late evening snack. I heard Jeremy curse as he held his arm straight out. With a flutter of wings, a bird larger than Jeremy’s crow form landed on the outstretched