Soulbound: A Lone Star Witch Novel Read online

  PRAISE FOR THE

  DRAGON’S HEAT NOVELS

  FORBIDDEN EMBERS

  “A steamy, exciting novel.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “An engaging tale of star-crossed love.”

  Genre Go Round Reviews

  “A fantastic addition to the series that is filled with passion and intriguing characters.”

  —Night Owl Reviews

  HIDDEN EMBERS

  “[A] first-class shape-shifting novel…filled with a fiery passion that’s hot enough to set the desert sands aflame.”

  —Romantic Times (top pick)

  “A super thriller.”

  —Genre Go Round Reviews

  “A no-holds-barred epic romance where no emotion is left unscathed.”

  —Lovin’ Me Some Romance

  “Adams has created an enthralling, highly charged romance, complete with strong characters, hot-steaming sex, and fast-paced suspenseful action where no one is safe.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  DARK EMBERS

  “Written in a compelling voice, Dark Embers introduces a sexy and intriguing new world.”

  New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh

  “A blistering-hot, fast-paced adventure that will leave readers breathless…a romantic story that will captivate you and keep you turning pages long into the night.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Anya Bast

  “This darkly seductive tale will have you longing for a dragon of your very own.”

  —national bestselling author Shiloh Walker

  “A fantastic debut…that will take you on a scorching hot adventure and leave you wanting more.”

  —Among the Muses

  “If you’re looking for a fast paranormal read featuring suspense, hot shifters and even hotter sex, then look no further.”

  —Smexy Books Romance Reviews

  The Dragon’s Heat Novels

  by Tessa Adams

  Dark Embers

  Hidden Embers

  Forbidden Embers

  Soulbound

  A LONE STAR WITCH NOVEL

  Tessa Adams

  A SIGNET ECLIPSE BOOK

  SIGNET ECLIPSE

  Published by New American Library, a division of

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

  New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,

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  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:

  80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published by Signet Eclipse, an imprint of New American Library,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  First Printing, February 2013

  ISBN: 978-1-101-61261-3

  Copyright © Tracy Deebs-Elkenaney, 2013

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  SIGNET ECLIPSE and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  ALWAYS LEARNING PEARSON

  For my husband,

  who has made this

  whole wild ride worth

  every second

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-one

  Twenty-two

  Twenty-three

  Twenty-four

  Twenty-five

  Twenty-six

  Twenty-seven

  About the Author

  Prologue

  I was born on a dark night, under a Dark Moon in a sky turned bloodred with power and prophecy.

  Some say it was a less than fortuitous beginning to a new life of power, but as I squalled my way into the world, none of those bound to love me were disturbed by it. Why should they have been? Magic was everywhere.

  It was burning in the wall of flames that surrounded the birthing bed.

  Bubbling in the vases of sacred water positioned at North, East, South and West.

  Trembling in the blessed earth sprinkled all over my grandmother’s prized Aubusson rug.

  Even spinning in the air that whipped around the room in a frenzy.

  Yes, magic was all around me. How could it not be when hundreds, thousands, of members of our coven were there, gathered right outside the walls of my grandmother’s garden, straining for their first glimpse of the enchanted one? Of me.

  The news of my imminent birth spread quickly—which was no surprise as it was the most anticipated, most celebrated, occasion the coven had seen in many years. Since the birth of my own mother some two hundred odd years before, probably. After all, it’s not every day that a seventh daughter bears a seventh daughter, let alone does it on the seventh day of the seventh month. In fact, our historians swore that it had never happened before.

  Tales of my expected power spread until they became a thing of lore. Or even worse, until all those stories—all those whispers—became the norm. The expected. I would be great, powerful, untouchable by nearly all witch standards.

  It was one hell of a birthright for a scrawny, five pound baby, but my family was convinced I would live up to it. As were my coven, the Council and the entire magical world.

  And when the sky split straight down the middle, when it was rent in half by the most powerful forces of Heka—of the goddess Isis, herself—I moved from creature of lore to portent of legend.

  Lightning spun through the sky like a whirlwind, whipping around and around as it tore through my grandmother’s roof and through the third and second stories of her house until it found me tucked safe in my mother’s arms on the ground floor.

  And that’s when it hit, lighting up my mother and me—the whole room, really—in a strike of such brilliance that it could be seen for endless miles. It disappeared as quickly as it had come, leaving the two of us untouched—except for the golden mark that appeared on m
y neck and collarbone.

  A circle with the outline of a pointed half circle above it, it was Isis’s most sacred symbol—a magical tattoo that nothing could remove and one that no one had been gifted with before me.

  The legends and the expectations grew. And grew. And grew. Until no mortal could possibly live up to them.

  Especially not me.

  One

  Winter 2005

  My humiliation is complete.

  I can see it in their faces, in the way some are trying desperately not to look at me while others can’t stare long or hard enough.

  I can see it in the embarrassed flush on my father’s cheeks and the clenched hands, wandering gazes and tapping toes of my sisters.

  And, most of all, I can see it in the way my mother’s amethyst eyes have glazed over with mortified tears. In the way she keeps clicking together the heels of her favorite, ruby red pair of cowboy boots—like if she hits the perfect spot she’ll spiral out of the room just as Dorothy did all those years ago.

  Too bad there’s never a tornado around when you need one.

  I try to tune them out, to close my eyes and pretend that I’m up in my room, practicing, instead of standing here in the middle of my Kas Djedet—my magical coming out party—making a complete and total ass of myself. If I can do that, if I can just forget my audience of legions, then maybe this once I can find a way to make the stupid spell work.

  The fact that it never has before is utterly inconsequential to me now. Everything is, except making fire.

  Please, Isis, just this once. I beg of you.

  There’s no answer, but then I didn’t really expect one. Except for the day I was born, Isis has been notably absent from my life. You’d think, by now, I would have learned to stop asking.

  Still, I concentrate on the spell as hard as I can, repeating the words over and over again in my head like I’ve been taught. The charm itself is child’s play—or at least, to a certain kind of child. But I’ve never been able to do it. Never been able to do anything when it comes to magic, no matter how much I study or how hard I try. Why I let my family talk me into believing tonight would be different, I’ll never know.

  Maybe because I wanted to believe it as much as they did.

  Still, I’d warned my parents, weeks ago, that this party was a bad idea. Told them that I was going to fail. That I absolutely, positively could not do what they so desperately wanted me to.

  They’d refused to listen.

  “You’re simply a late bloomer,” my mother told me. “Your powers will unlock on your nineteenth birthday and you’ll do fine. Isis knew what she was doing when she marked you. Trust me.”

  “You’re just nervous,” my dad concurred. “Once you’re up there, the magic will come.”

  “Performance anxiety,” my oldest sister, Rachael, commented with a smirk that was a long way from sympathetic. “Good luck with that.” Still, despite her amusement, it was obvious that she hadn’t expected me to fail either. But then, why would she? No one in my family fails. At anything. And certainly not at magic. There hasn’t been a latent witch on either side of my family tree for seven generations. And if there was going to be one, it certainly shouldn’t be me.

  After all, with my birthright, I should be loaded with power. Showered with it. It should be leaking out my pores and lighting up everything I touch.

  Instead, it turns out that seven is not my lucky number. I can’t do even the most basic spell.

  I try again.

  Nothing.

  Again.

  Nothing.

  In the audience, someone clears his throat, coughs, and the small amount of concentration I’ve been able to muster shatters. I glance around—I can’t help myself—and once again see the shock, the horror and disgust, rolling off the witches and wizards gathered in my family’s ceremonial ballroom.

  Even my own family looks ashamed, like they can’t believe I’m one of them.

  It’s the last straw and more than enough to get me moving, to have me jumping off the circular stage set up in the center of the room and zooming out the French doors that lead to the patio.

  Behind me, my mother shrieks my name. In a booming voice, my father demands that I return to the ballroom at once. But I’m running full out now, scrambling to get away from the pity and the revulsion radiating from so many of the guests. They’ve come from all over our territory, all over the world, to witness the Kas Djedet of the youngest, and supposedly most powerful, Morgan daughter. What they’ve witnessed instead doesn’t bear thinking about.

  No, I tell myself, nothing can make me go back there. Not when the joke that is my nineteenth birthday party is still in full swing, and maybe not even when it’s over.

  My black designer cowboy boots, bought by my mother especially for tonight, pound over the hard, packed earth as I flee my yard for the safety and comfort of the peach orchard behind my house. The sweet scent of the fruit tickles my nose but I’m too busy sprinting down row after row of trees to notice. The only thing clear in my head is the need to get away.

  I don’t come to a stop until I’m at the lake at the very end of my family’s property. It’s my thinking spot, the place I’ve been coming to brood and cry and reflect since I was a little girl. As far as I know, I’m the only member of my family to come here, and if I’m lucky, it will be the last place they think to look for me.

  Frustrated, fuming, I yank off my eight hundred dollar boots—which are supposed to help me channel magic and instead have only aided in channeling mortification—and hurl them, one after the other, into the lake. As they sink, I feel an incredible surge of satisfaction welling up inside of me. The first satisfaction I’ve felt all day, all week. All year.

  Screw magic, I tell myself as—mindless of the Dolce & Gabbana party dress I’m wearing (again courtesy of my mother)—I sink down onto the moist dirt surrounding the lake so I can dangle my feet in the water. Being a latent witch isn’t the worst thing in the world. It just feels like it now because of the party.

  Most days, it’s actually a relief not to be able to practice magic. After all, who needs the hassle? The responsibility? And who actually wants to touch all those gross potion ingredients, anyway?

  A couple of tears roll down my face and I brush them impatiently away. I will not feel sorry for myself. I. Will. Not. Feel. Sorry. For. Myself. It’s stupid and useless and utterly selfish. My life is better than a lot of people’s, even if it doesn’t feel like that right now.

  Leaning back on my elbows, I gaze up at the beautiful night sky above me. And repeat the admonishment again and again, until I almost believe it.

  I lay there until the heat of the summer night sinks straight through the cold brought on by nervousness and humiliation. Until my arms fall asleep from resting so long in the same position and my neck gets a crick in it for the same reason. And still I don’t move. I can’t. I’m transfixed by the idea of what comes next. Or, to be more specific, what doesn’t.

  What am I supposed to do with my life now that it’s clear, once and for all, that I am never going to follow in my family’s boot steps.

  College?

  Backpacking through Europe?

  Getting a job—a regular, run-of-the-mill job with no magic involved?

  Is it too much to contemplate all three?

  The possibilities stretch endlessly in front of me, not nearly as disappointing as they should be. I’m actually a little excited, to be honest, at least until reality comes crashing back down. There’s no way my mother will let me do any of those things. No way my parents will just let me walk away from centuries of coven tradition to lead my own life somewhere else. It simply isn’t done. At least not for me, the youngest princess in Ipswitch’s royal family and second in line to the throne, right behind my only brother. Latent witch or not, my place is with the Ipswitch royal family of witches. No other choice will be tolerated.

  Depressed, I pick up a handful of rocks, then skip them across the surface of the
lake, one after the other. I’m lost in thought, not paying much attention to what I’m doing even as I’m doing it—at least not until the last stone goes spinning out of control. Instead of jumping harmlessly across the water, it starts to glow, to spin. Then it rises straight up from the lake—about ten or fifteen feet in the air—and hangs there, whirling, for long seconds before it explodes outward. Hundreds of small, burning red pebbles fall harmlessly back into the water.

  Eyes wide, heart pounding, I scramble back from the edge of the lake. Did I do that? I wonder frantically. But if so, how? I can’t even light a candle using magic, let alone make a rock levitate and then explode. It simply isn’t possible. No matter how much I want it to be so.

  I glance wildly around, looking for some explanation, some reason for that rock to have done what it did. But there’s nothing, no one, on either side of me.

  Just to be sure, I turn to look behind me…and that’s when I spot him. Dressed in black, he blends completely into the surrounding trees. I wouldn’t have seen him at all except for the small flames dancing back and forth along his fingertips.

  The show-off.

  “What are you doing out here?” I demand, keeping my voice steady with an effort. “This is private property.”

  I can’t see his face, don’t know who he is, but the power rolling off him is unmistakable. Not because of the rock or the fire—both are simple spells for someone who can wield magic. There’s just something about him, an electricity that fills the air between us, that overwhelms the peace and quiet of the lake with the unmistakable aura of potent magic ruthlessly leashed.

  “Looking for you.” He walks toward me slowly and as he does, he extinguishes the flames that have moved from his fingertips to his upturned palms. I can still see him, though. Away from the trees, the light of the full moon silvers over him.