Bewitched on Bourbon Street (29 page)

Authors: Deanna Chase

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Paranormal, #Fantasy, #General

BOOK: Bewitched on Bourbon Street

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I put my hand over Jasper’s and squeezed lightly, offering him a modicum of support. The poor kid’s world had been turned upside down. He’d learned his fiancée was a demon, had lost someone he called a friend, and now it looked like he’d need a new job as well. His days as Chessa’s assistant were over.

The council deliberated for more than two hours. By the time they finally reemerged, my entire body protested from sitting in the hard chair.

Endora strode to the podium, and after taking a few minutes to settle the spectators, she cleared her throat and said, “Chessandra Ballintine, please rise.”

Chessandra stood as if in a trance.

“Chessandra Ballintine, you are hereby stripped of your title of high angel. Your salary, all privileges, and active contracts are now void. You’ve been sentenced to thirty years confinement with two years psychological therapy. Your time will start immediately.”

Drake got to his feet and wrapped an arm around her, but she stood stiffly beside him, her expression blank.

And when the guards came for her, she didn’t resist.

An inkling of relief blossomed in my chest, followed by a hollowness in my gut. I should’ve been elated. Vindicated. Triumphant. But I felt none of that. Mostly, I was empty and worn out. All I wanted to do was curl back up in bed with Kane and my ghost dog Duke.

We sat in the witness area until most of the angels had cleared out.

“I can’t believe it’s over,” Lailah said from behind me.

Too drained to talk, I nodded my agreement.

“Ready to go home?” Kane asked me.

“More than ready.” We stood, but before I even took my first step, Jasper grabbed my hand. I glanced down at him.

He looked up at me with wild eyes. “I have to know. Is she really…?”

My chest constricted with pain. He couldn’t finish his sentence because he was talking about Avery. “Oh, Jasper. I’m so sorry. She’d already fallen—”

“Demon,” he finished for me.

“There’s nothing we could’ve done.”

“I guess not.” He lumbered to his feet and, without another word, hunched his shoulders and shuffled out of the sanctuary.

Epilogue

Kane

Three months later

The stove door creaked as I pulled it open. Inside was a perfectly golden cheesecake, baked for Jade and our celebration dinner. What we were celebrating, I really had no idea. It wasn’t our anniversary, her birthday, or any major holiday. Trust me. I’d checked just as soon as she’d left this morning to spend the day at the café with Pyper.

All I knew was this morning she’d told me we had plans, and we were celebrating. Our last three months had been relatively quiet. For once. Now that Chessandra was incarcerated, our shadow walking contract had been voided, and we’d declined to sign a new one. Since we’d been coerced into the first one, no one was surprised.

I was still demon hunting, but even the demon attacks had decreased. Maximus suspected my time in Hell had diminished Aiken’s following, and tensions had cooled a bit. I didn’t know, and frankly I didn’t care. I was just enjoying being with my wife.

Jade had been spending most of her free time studying up on healing magic with Bea and working with Pyper at the café. She’d said she was ready for a quieter life. Well, she’d gotten it for the most part. There hadn’t been a major crisis since we’d come back from Hell. Thank the gods.

I placed the cheesecake on a cooling rack and headed for the shower. When Jade got home, I’d be ready for her.

Within moments, the steam filled the bathroom, and I stood under the water, letting the heat sluice over me, relaxing my shoulders.

“Need some help?” Jade’s voice carried over the rush of the water.

Grinning, I pulled the shower door open. “If you’re offering.”

She stood barefoot on the tile floor, already naked. Just the sight of her swollen breasts and her slightly pronounced curves sent my blood rushing to my groin, and I felt myself harden beneath her intense gaze. After three months of the easy life, Jade had gained a few extra pounds that I found sexy as hell. She’d been beautiful before, but now she was just plain luscious.

I crooked a finger. “Get in here, pretty witch.”

Her gaze traveled the length of my body, lingering on my groin area. “It looks like you’re more than ready for a
little
help.”

I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the shower. “Honey, there’s nothing little about it.”

She giggled and pressed her palms to my chest, her head tilted up, joy radiating from her sparkling green eyes.

God I loved that sound. I could spend forever listening to the tinkle of her laugh. “Come here.” I wrapped my arms around her, warmth filling my heart. “How was your day?”

“Hmmm, just about perfect.” She gazed up at me, her face radiant.

“Really? Did something special happen at the café?” There was something decidedly different about her today. She practically glowed from the inside out.

She shook her head. “Nope. Just a regular day filled with chocolate cupcakes, chai tea, and Pyper badgering me about what we were celebrating.”

I laughed. “I see it didn’t work. She was under strict orders to call me the minute she figured it out.”

“So she didn’t, then.” Her smile turned self-satisfied.

“Obviously not. I haven’t heard from her.”

“Good.” She pushed up on her tiptoes and nibbled on my lower lip, feeding that need to have her that was never quenched.

I let out a tiny moan and pulled her closer, loving the way her nipples hardened against my chest. “You are perfection.”

“You think so?” She pulled away slightly and turned in my arms, pressing her back against me. Threading her fingers through mine, she wrapped my arms around her belly.

“Absolutely.”

“I hope you still feel that way six months from now.”

I frowned. “What’s that mean?”

She glanced back at me, her smile lopsided.

I narrowed my eyes, suspicion taking up root in the back of my mind. Her swollen breasts, slightly rounder belly and hips, the expectant-mother glow. “Jade? Are you—?”

“Pregnant?” she asked.

I nodded.

She placed my hand over her belly and whispered, “Yes.”

“A child,” I whispered, disbelief warring with awe for my dominant reaction.

“Our child.” Jade leaned against my chest, caressing my fingers that rested on her barely-there baby bump.

Powerful emotions rose up and stole my voice as I realized I finally had everything I’d ever wanted right there in my arms.

Jade. Our child. A family.

The backs of my eyes burned, and I tightened my hold on my wife, wishing I could keep her and our child wrapped tightly in my embrace forever.

Safe.

“Kane?” she asked softly.

“Yes, love?”

“You’re happy, right?” There was more than a little trepidation in her tone.

I turned her around, lifted her up, and pressed her against the tiled wall of the shower. Staring into her glassy bright-green eyes, I gave her a slow smile. “Nothing on this planet could make me happier than knowing you’re carrying my child.”

Her lips curved up as two happy tears slowly slid down her cheeks. “You’re not worried?”

My smile turned wistful. “I think I’ll be worried every minute of the day for the rest of my life, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that you’re the coven leader and I’m a demon hunter. That’s just part of the territory.”

Shaking her head, her voice hitched as she said, “I know all parents feel that way. But our lives…it’s not the same.”

I sobered and pushed a lock of her strawberry-blond hair from her cheek. I knew what she was saying, and although I’d made a joke of my answer, there was already an ache deep in my heart for everything our children would have to endure. Even though the curse had been broken, there was no guarantee our child wouldn’t be targeted again. But I refused to live my life in fear. And I knew the same was true for her. Our children would know exactly what it felt like to be loved. And Goddess help anything or anyone who tried to harm them.

“You’re right. It’s not. But this child”—I glanced down at her belly—“is going to grow up surrounded by love and magic and wonder. And she’ll have two badass parents to keep an eye on her. Poor thing. That’s probably going to be harder on her than any demon who tries to get in her way.”

Jade laughed. “She?”

“Yes. A little girl with blond curls and jade-green eyes just like her mother.”

“Or a dark-haired little boy with rich dark-chocolate eyes and lashes so long they make all the girls jealous.”

“How about both,” I whispered and leaned in, covering her lips with mine.

She let out a quiet, satisfied moan and tightened her hold on me, pressing her body into mine. “I think that can be arranged, Mr. Rouquette.”

“How about now?” I teased, dipping my head to kiss my way across the swell of her breast.

She giggled. “I’m not sure it works—oh!”

I’d scraped my teeth over her nipple and, unable to control myself, I sucked hard, my fingers digging into the soft flesh of her hips. She was so warm, so pliable, so perfect. A rush of blood pumped through my body, every nerve alive with desire.

She arched her back into me, her nails already scoring my back. “Take me to bed, Kane. Show me exactly how much you love me.”

“Gladly.” I flipped the water off, and with Jade still wrapped around me, I strode into our bedroom. And there, right in the middle of the bed, was the cheesecake.

Jade gave me that sexy little smile of hers and said, “I figured we could make do without the forks.”

A seductive grin claimed my lips, my mind flashing to all the wicked places I was going to taste her. Her breath hitched as I lowered us onto the bed and ran my fingers over her heated flesh. “I hope you’re ready, Mrs. Rouquette. This is going to be one hell of a celebration.”

Jade’s hand came up to cup my cheek. “It’s going to be one hell of a life.”

My heart stuttered from the intense love shining back at me through her gaze. And for the first time in my life, I finally understood what it meant to feel complete. I pressed my lips to hers and murmured, “It already is.”

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About the Author

Deanna is a native Californian, transplanted to the slower paced lifestyle of southeastern Louisiana. When she isn’t writing, she is often goofing off with her husband in New Orleans, playing with her two shih tzu dogs, making glass beads, or out hocking her wares at various bead shows across the country. Want the next book in the series? Visit
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