a handful of his shirt, “be careful. Come back to me in one piece. I love you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Royce promised, gently unclenching her hand. “You have my word.”
“Royce,” Landon shouted from the garage. “Sean said he couldn’t reach you on your cell, so he called mine. He said he needs to talk to you…now.”
“Duty calls,” Royce said with a grin.
Shaking her head, Becki asked, “You love this stuff, don’t you?”
Royce was suddenly very serious as he said, “Yes, I do. But not as much as I love you.”
Patting his chest, Becki assured him, “Well big guy, lucky for you, you don’t have to choose.” Hopping down from the hood of her car, she blew him a kiss. And then she proceeded to give her hips an extra wiggle as she strutted toward the house.
Royce growled and shifted uncomfortably in his jeans. “You are playing with fire woman,” he called suggestively.
Becki laughed and responded without turning around, “Go take your call. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
* * * *
CHAPTER TEN Joanna strolled along the battery feeling embarrassed and somewhat unstable. She closed her eyes and breathed in the salty air.
Why would all those memories have to come rushing back today, of all days? When Landon tossed her on the bed, she was suddenly back “there” in her mind. She lived it all again, the feelings of being trapped in hopelessness, pain, and humiliation.
She had suddenly transitioned from a confident Witch tussling with a sexy Werewolf to a whack job in the blink of an eye. Landon had descended on her, and in that instant she heard the cell door slam shut in her mind. She actually felt the metal bands around her wrists and ankles. The bands with razor-sharp edges were designed to deter prisoners from trying to slip free. Some of the prisoners who were disobedient, or tried to escape, had been fitted with collars. They should have known…there was no escape from hell!
The jailers used dark magic to draw power from the Witches they had chained to the dungeon walls. The Witches were physically and emotionally drained to the point of exhaustion, and in some cases death. Late at night guards were allowed to help themselves to a captive or two. They would take the Witches into their private chambers, and what happened there was even worse. Joanna shuddered.
“Mommy, look! A pirate ship, like in my bath,” a young voice chirped nearby. Joanna turned to look at the young child pointing toward Charleston harbor. “Pirates have treasure!” she announced dramatically. “Do these pirates have treasure, mommy?”
Joanna felt a sharp stab of pain at her temple. She automatically reached for the sunglasses perched on top of her head.
“That’s the funny thing about pirates, Madeline…you never know,” her mother laughed. She looked into the harbor where the little girl was pointing and praised, “You have such a wonderful imagination. Pirates! Who would have thought?”
Sliding the sunglasses in place, Joanna closed her eyes briefly in an effort to minimize the nausea brought on by her sudden pain.
“Mommy! It’s not in my mag-i-naion,” the little girl said with a frown and stomp of her small foot.
“Well, in that case, we better get to the ice cream shop before the pirates steal all of the ice cream,” her mother suggested trying to distract her daughter.
The little girl looked out into the harbor one more time and shrugged. “Ok. Can I have the bubble-gum kind? And a waffle cone?” she negotiated.
The mother laughed hugging her daughter tightly. “Sure, if I can have a bite.”
“Mommy, you don’t like bubble-gum! It makes your tongue blue,” the little girl said, wiggling away from her mother with a giggle. She latched onto her mother’s hand and began tugging. “Come on, Mommy, those bad pirates don’t get my ice cream,” she declared as she began skipping down the sidewalk holding tightly to her Mother’s hand.
Joanna couldn’t take her eyes off the pair. Her heart felt as if it was being slowly ripped out of her chest. Her own daughter would be about that age. Joanna imagined her with the same dark hair and dancing eyes. Tears of sorrow welled behind her sunglasses.
After hours of labor in a dank, dark place, they had taken her baby girl away. Weak from blood loss and hunger, Joanna had barely survived the birth of her precious baby girl. The midwife had sneaked the baby into Joanna’s arms for a brief moment before the guards came to take her beautiful baby away.