Everwild (The Healer Series, #1) (33 page)

“Here to get Pretty Warlock Boy?” Chase
smirked looking at the Academy. Willow’s heart jacked up as she
looked at the school. The castle was huge, looming in front of her
like a fortress of doom. The elegant structure was built of gray
stone with several spires and towers. Lights were on in several
rooms as it was slightly early in the evening hours. Declan was in
there. Her heart and soul, the one she wanted most, the one that
got away, was in there. What would she say? How could she explain
how she had to save him from Bane by breaking his heart? Nervous
jitters filled her. She hoped he would agree to go with her to the
Deadlands. But once again, that would be sending them to a place
full of chaos with no guarantee of survival. Could she ask him to
do this? Could she put him through this…again? He hated going into
the Everwild in the beginning, she was sure he wouldn’t go to the
Deadlands with them.

“Darkmeer is in Scotland,” Willow stated, not
acknowledging Declan out loud yet. “So where are the Deadlands
located?” She turned to Elirana.

“Where else, but in the heart of a volcano?”
Elirana smirked showing straight white teeth. “Mount
Eyjafjallajökul of Iceland, or Eyja for short.”

Chase laughed. “Ironic. Fire and Ice. The
perfect place for the Deadlands, really.”

“Well…at least we’re sort of close to
Iceland,” Willow said trying to be positive.

Chase held out his fingers. “Okay, so mission
number one, get Pretty Boy. Mission number two go to Iceland.
Mission number three, get the key and hightail it out of the
Deadlands. Am I missing anything?”

“Yes,” Willow said glumly and started walking
towards the castle with a heavy heart. “Mission impossible.”

Willow’s story continues in Book 2:
DEADLANDS

COMNG SOON

Look at her,
Declan thought to himself
as soon as Willow emerged into the ballroom arm in arm with
Pandora.
She’s so beautiful.

Declan coached himself over and over again
not to drool over her the instant he saw Willow. If it was up to
him, he wouldn’t even be attending her talisman ceremony for that
purpose alone. But being the Head Warlock’s son had its down
side-being forced into the spotlight because of his father’s
status, for one thing. If Declan hadn’t shown up tonight, gossip
and speculation would run rampant through the Covens and heaven
forbid his family allowed that to happen. He rolled his eyes. This
was going to be a long night.

No matter if he wanted to be here or not, the
crazy thing about it was that he still found himself totally
enraptured by her the second his eyes landed on Willow. It wasn’t
like she was
that
attractive. She had long auburn spiraled
hair that was
always
a tangled mess and an average
complexion with large chocolate brown eyes that he could stare into
forever. Not to mention the many expressions that crossed her pale
face that he wondered what was going through her little head and
wanted to ask her constantly what she was thinking. Ahem. Like he
said, she wasn’t that attractive.

From where he stood across the room, Declan
could tell that Willow was uncomfortable with all the attention on
her. She spoke to several Witches, shook their hands, and was
hustled to the front of the room by her sisters. The orchestra
played beautiful songs and the room was decorated like a silvery
wonderland. But the extravagance of the evening still did not deter
him from following Willow’s every move with his eyes.

He almost laughed when Willow adjusted her
dress, thinking no one noticed. Ha! Little did she know his
attention was focused solely on her. She wore an elegant blue gown
that made her hair pop out dramatically, but this wasn’t the Willow
he knew. She always wore jeans and a t-shirt. In fact, he had never
seen her in anything but jeans every time he saw her. He barely saw
her, anyways, but when he did, the impression she left on him
lasted for days. She always seemed to weasel her way into his
thoughts even when he wasn’t around her (the teasing vixen) and it
was an amazing shock to his system seeing the way Willow’s body
moved in that tight dress. Wow. She had him totally baited, hooked,
and caught, and she didn’t even see him standing there.

Pandora made the announcement for everyone to
find their seats for dinner. Since he was practically royalty among
the magic casters, his table was near the front. It would give him
a perfect view of her. Willow and her sisters sat facing the
audience, and Willow’s cheeks were ten shades of reds. He chuckled
to himself and found it extremely amusing how awkward she was when
the attention was all on her.

But then he noticed Willow kept turning her
head to glance behind her. Ah. It just dawned on him. Hekate had
shown up, which was probably the cause of Willow’s discomfort. She
was the Queen of Witches. Even though Warlocks didn’t have to
follow orders from the Queen, since they had their own hierarchy,
she was still an icon for all magic casters and someone to look up
to.

His father, Emerson Aldridge, was who
Warlocks turned to for anything such as settling disputes, solving
problems, those types of things. He guessed his father could be
dubbed the King, but nobody called him that. Hekate never really
showed up anywhere unless it was a circumstance for people to fawn
over her. It didn’t seem like she served a purpose for the Witches,
although she was always talked about as being a great leader.
Declan scoffed, never seeing the fruits of her labor. Hekate was
creepy-looking, though, with her flitting black eyes and long black
hair. She reminded Declan of a living corpse. So…he turned his
attention back on Willow, because she was much better looking than
Hekate.

He decided right then that he was going to
ask Willow for a dance. Oh, she could throw a fit like he knew she
would, but nothing was going to stop him from touching her. He’s
had several girlfriends in the past, all who were First Degree
Witches. But they didn’t mean anything and they lasted a month at
most. He always got bored of them. The “magic” as it were, simply
wasn’t there. He had never met anyone who made him feel complete.
Declan still loved the attention from the girls, loved being
popular with his friends, but something was always missing.

And one thing that Willow did not show him
was complete and obsessive affection. Unlike all the other Witches
who threw themselves at his feet begging for him to go out with
them, Willow was the exact opposite. She argued with him, tested
his patience, and never flirted. She had stomped on his foot one
time because he taunted her about being a better magic caster! And
he proved it too! Declan hated losing, no matter who it was. He was
competitive and would get his spells right. He was at the top of
his class for goodness sake, so he better damn well get his spells
dead accurate. He did that night, but it had completely embarrassed
her because she got the spell wrong. He felt bad afterwards and
wanted to apologize, but she evaded him every time he approached
her. She was so frustrating.

Yet Willow’s indifference towards him
intrigued him like no other. She was witty, he’d give her that, but
did she know how much she affected him? He was like a swooning
teenager when she was around. Resorting to him being self-conscious
about his looks, trying to get her to notice him, but all his
attempts at charming her had failed, which was so crazy because it
was like she was the only Witch immune to his charisma. She just
argued with him and tried avoiding him. Tonight, however, she would
face him. Of that he was certain.

But there was something different about
Willow, something he couldn’t shake. Declan could admit he had a
temper. He was moody and selfish and his emotions went wild
sometimes. He could do some serious damage when he was upset, but
Willow was like his sedative drug. She calmed him, made him focus.
It was really weird, because even though he hardly spent any time
in her presence, whenever he was around her, he felt better. He’d
never tell her that, though. He would never tell her how much he
wanted her because she didn’t reciprocate his feelings.

The activities switched for the night as the
dancing started. This was his chance. No matter what his jack ass
friends would say, he was going to have the first dance with the
enchanting Willow Rose. Straightening his Louis Vuitton tux jacket
and pushing his bangs out of his face, he made his way over to her.
His heart was beating steadily. He was nervous, but not in the
scared, cry-baby way. He was nervous because the closer he got to
her, the more he could feel the energy around him change. It was
electric and exciting-something only Willow could do to him.

She was on a mission. Her eyes were trained
on the table that had punch and hors d’oeurvres. He followed her
gaze and smirked, noticing she was trying to make her way to her
friend…whatever her name was. She didn’t even see him coming her
way!

Quickly, he took one huge step to stand in
front of her. He didn’t expect her to run into him completely, but
she totally did! She ran smack into his body and stumbled back. The
instant she touched him, Declan trembled slightly. This Witch was
really
affecting him tonight and maybe it was because he
hadn’t had contact with her for a few months.

Declan watched the expression of shock and
surprise cross her face, but then she quickly masked it into
confusion and anger. Declan smirked.
What is going on in your
head, baby?
He asked in his mind. If only Willow knew the
thoughts that were running through his head. Instead, he decided to
put his defenses up, tapping into the cool resolve she seemed to
hate.

“Willow Rose,” he bowed slightly meeting her
irritated stare dead on. “Will you do me the honor of sharing your
first dance with me?” Willow shifted uncomfortably under his
unwavering gaze and Declan only smiled wider. He liked how he could
so easily get under her skin, and loved to get a reaction out of
her. His question did just that.

Everyone around them cooed and awed, but
Declan didn’t care. All he saw was Willow. He could see the wheels
turning in her head, contemplating on rejecting him, no doubt. But
he was the Head Warlocks son! Surely she knew if he denied him a
dance, it would be frowned upon and scandalous behavior. He looked
briefly into her eyes. Chocolate, his favorite food. Unlike his
lighter hazel color, Willow’s was deep and soulful, beautiful and
entrancing.

“It would be my pleasure,” she said. Yep. He
won. Again. He never lost, not once, and it wouldn’t start tonight.
It only increased his arrogance as he smiled lazily at her watching
as she squirmed under his gaze.

He nearly laughed out loud when Willow took
the formal dancing posture once they reached the center floor.
Declan took her hands and drew her close, though, placing his hand
on the small of her back. Of course, he wanted his hand to drift
farther south, but that would be far from appropriate for this
occasion. Yet it crossed his mind several times. Her dress was
nearly backless. God, what was she trying to do? Kill him?

Willow glanced quickly at his mouth. What was
this? Declan would’ve missed it if he wasn’t watching her every
move. Why did she look at his lips? He groaned inwardly. All he
could think about was kissing the shit out of her, now. God he
wanted to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her so bad he couldn’t stand
it! His skin was on fire for her. But then the music started and
drew him out of the spell she put him in.

“Just follow my lead,” Declan said with as
much confidence as he could muster. He was a trained ballroom
dancer and knew how to guide his woman across the floor. So he did
just that. Losing himself in her while they danced was fun, until a
sharp pain in his leg woke him from his stupor, He looked down
quickly. Did she just—?

“Ugh!” Declan moaned in her ear when she
stepped on his foot. She
stepped
on his foot? What was with
her and stepping on people’s feet? When she did it again, he
snapped at her. “Will you
stop
it?”

“Don’t lead so fast and then maybe I would,”
she snapped back looking down at her feet to concentrate. It was
cute, how she was so uncoordinated.

“Oh, so it’s my fault?” he taunted her. He
tried to deepen his voice to make her feel uncomfortable. It didn’t
work.

“Yes,” she said flatly. “You’re the one who
asked me to dance, so yes, that makes it your fault.”

“Ow,” he winced when she stepped on his foot
again. “Well, I didn’t know you were so terrible at it.” He then
looked down at her and smirked knowingly. “But the one thing you
are
good at is stepping on people’s feet.” Oh, he went there
alright. He couldn’t help it! He had to let her know that he didn’t
forget about their little argument they had the last time he saw
her.

“You’re such a baby,” she said trying to pull
away from him.

She just insulted him and called him a baby.
That was the best she could do? It was almost funny. Declan felt
her trying to pull away but he wasn’t done with her yet. He’d never
be done with her, so drew her closer until her body was flush
against his, trying to savor this moment he had with her, because
it would be the last for a while probably. His grip around her
waist was strong. She couldn’t move-she
wouldn’t
move unless
he had something to say about it. He was way stronger than her,
anyways, and could overpower her small frame so easily.

And that of course, led to thoughts of
dominating her in the bedroom. How good it would make him feel to
see her resilient attitude towards him change when she finally
submitted to him. But he wouldn’t force himself on her. Never.
Despite what people may say about him, he was actually a gentleman
and knew how to respect a woman, even though his very private
thoughts were shielded from everybody but him. All he could do was
fantasize about something that might never happen. As far as he
knew, Willow Rose resented him. But maybe one day, her feeling
towards him would change. In the meantime, he would do what he
loved to do to her, taunt, play and flirt with her.