from right in front of her eyes. Shocked, she lost her footing and slammed against Oliver’s rock-hard chest.
He whistled loudly. “It looks as if you’re not that bad of a witch after all, Dallas,” he exclaimed, unmistakable pride filling his voice as he wrapped his arms around her.
Chapter Nine
Dallas was still struck speechless. Accusingly, she looked over at her brother, who promptly flung his hands up in the air.
“Hey, don’t look at me, I didn’t do it,” he brother said.
Oliver looked over at her with a question in his eyes. “You never told me your brother was a warlock.”
“You never asked, honey,” she answered. “Did I actually do that? No fooling, you aren’t trying to put one over me, are you, Adrian?”
Adrian cleared his throat. “I know better than to go all hocus pocus on our father. I have to travel with the guy and he can go on and on and on, so yeah, I didn’t do it. Besides, isn’t there a law against that sort of thing around here?”
“Maybe my powers were dammed up along with my memories… I don’t remember how good of a witch I was before that fateful day.” Her eyes filled with tears.
“So, you finally remembered everything,” Adrian said, sadness tingeing his voice. He stepped into the house. “Dad is a bastard sometimes, Dallas, but he didn’t like hearing from Marion that Oliver released your memories and he’s dead set against him, seeing as he’s the child of Raymond White. As for how good of a witch you were, I can answer that. You were pretty good, not as good as Anya and not as good as little old me—but hey, you were pretty talented. As for you popping Dad back home, he won’t stay there for long. He’s used to living with a witch and he never gave up when it came to Mom so he’s not going to give up when it comes to you.”
“He gave up on me long ago. Why don’t you go home and take our father and keep him as far away from Earth as possible.”
Adrian sighed heavily. “If that’s the way you want it, Dallas, I’ll go. But I’m telling you, nothing is going to make Dad leave now that he knows you’re hanging with a White. He’s going to stick around until Anya returns home to talk some sense into you.”
“Fat lot of luck he’ll have in that case. Anya has accepted Oliver as her brother—in fact, she sent him here to me, so the two of you are the ones with the problem and you need to just get over it.”
Her brother sighed. “It’s not as if Dad has a problem with you having a boyfriend, but you could have chosen a local boy, someone with less baggage.”
“It’s as if I am not even here,” Oliver grumbled.
“Oliver isn’t going anywhere, Adrian, so you and Dad can like it or leave. You haven’t darkened Earth’s atmosphere for almost two decades. You didn’t care about me before, so why now?”
“He was frightened about the witch hunters. He actually does love both of his kids, you know. Feelings are hard for him to talk about and admitting his weakness when it comes to you is equally hard.”
“He hates me for what I did to our mother, and so do you, don’t try denying it.”
Adrian grimaced. “How can I hate you for something I might have done had I been cursed with your particular gift? Mom always stressed that our powers could zonk out on us one day and that if we lost control over them it wouldn’t be our fault. She made that quite clear to Dad.
“I think she always knew what you were capable of, even though none of us dreamt it was possible. He wasn’t angry at you for doing it. He was angry at himself for letting it happen. He thought he jinxed you and Mom because he’s not a warlock and he can’t properly protect you—not the way you need to be protected.”
“Well that solves it, then. Since you all think I’m a damsel in distress and that I need my own witch knight, I have him. Oliver can deal with any threat that comes to my doorstep without even breaking a sweat. He’s twice the warlock that you are.”
Adrian looked as if she’d stabbed him straight through the heart. “I guess I deserve that wickedly accurate strike to my ego. I’ll let him have it since he is a Ross and I know