Chapter 4

A s they rounded a corner the village came into view, all quaint little cottages painted in bright colours. But the houses were so close to each other; there definitely would be no solitude here.

Iris drove past a large fountain in the middle of the village green where kids were running around in the sunshine, and turned up Hazel Lane, looking at all the house numbers until she found number sixteen, and what was going to be her new home for the next few months. It was a pale blue house with roses climbing up the walls and looked very cute, if you liked that sort of thing.

She got out and looked around. It was nice and quiet here, peaceful. She opened the door for Morag and the fox slid out from the back seat and blinked her large golden eyes as she looked around.

‘We're definitely not in Scotland anymore,' Morag said.

‘Sadly not. But it's just for a few months.'

Morag sniffed the air and then skulked off, disappearing behind one of the houses.

Iris sighed and turned back to the car to see her grandmother getting out. She gave her home the once-over.

‘It's a bit small,' Ness said.

Their farmhouse in Scotland had been small and she'd never complained about that.

‘Come on, let's have a look inside,' Iris said.

They walked up to the door and Iris was surprised to find it unlocked. She pushed it open to find a cosy little lounge on the other side with a turquoise sofa and chairs clustered around a log burner. Leaving Ness downstairs, she went upstairs and saw there were two large double bedrooms, with the beds already made for them, and a large bathroom with a walk-in shower. She went back down to find Ness looking around her despondently. The place was immaculately clean so Iris knew her nan couldn't find fault in that.

Iris went into the kitchen to see a welcome hamper filled with bread, butter, coffee, tea, milk, biscuits and two fresh-looking scones. They smelled amazing and there was cream and jam too.

‘Hey, we have fresh scones in here, we can have them for lunch in a bit.'

She heard Ness make a noise that was nothing short of a harrumph. Iris raised her eyes to the heavens. She knew this was her fault, none of this would have happened if she hadn't trusted Christopher enough to bring him into her home. She had made her bed and now she had to lie in it, but the next few months were going to be unbearable if her nan was going to be like this.

She peered out of the window into the little garden and saw flowers spilling over from the borders. It was very pretty and Ness had loved sitting in the garden at home, enjoying the flowers and the wildlife. Surely she could grow to love this garden too.

Just as she was turning away from the window she saw something at the back of the garden that made her heart soar.

‘Nan, quick, look at this,' Iris said excitedly, taking off her shoes and socks and running outside. The grass felt warm under her feet as she picked her way to the very back of the garden. And there hidden amongst the trees was a little stream that tumbled over rocks as it wound its way through their plot of land and back out again.

‘What's all the fuss about?' Ness said as she came outside.

‘Look,' Iris pointed at the stream.

The scowl on Ness's face deepened as she made her way across the lawn. Iris waited for her nan to see it and when she did her whole face lit up as if she'd won millions of pounds in the lottery. She quickly kicked off her sandals and stepped into the water and Iris joined her, smiling to see her glowing with happiness. The water bubbled and danced as it ran past them and Iris closed her eyes, feeling the restorative powers of the water filling her, like a dried plant grateful for the long-awaited rain. She took several long deep breaths and felt herself relax, all the stresses ebbing away.

Everything would be OK, she could feel that.

She opened her eyes and Ness was still smiling.

‘We never had this at home,' Iris said. ‘We had to walk across two fields when we wanted to do water bathing.'

Ness nodded. ‘I think I could be very happy here.'

Iris smiled and gave her nan a hug. ‘Right, you stay here, I'll get unpacked.'

Her nan didn't argue, she just closed her eyes again as she relished in the water.

Iris went back inside, slipped on her shoes and went out to the car. She opened the boot with a wave of her hand and as she waved the other hand, all their possessions lifted out of the car and floated into the house. Iris followed them in, directing them to their places with a few more waves. The suitcases floated upstairs and started unpacking themselves, pictures hung themselves on the walls, her nan's knitting and embroidery stuff went into the ottoman next to the sofa and all of their herbs and spices flew into the kitchen cupboards. The plants took themselves to optimum positions around the house, some in shade, others in bright sunshine, whatever they needed. Within five minutes, everything was where it should be.

She went to the back door to find Ness still standing in the stream, which made her smile. ‘I'm heading out to explore.'

Her nan gave her a wave of her hand which said, off you go, but other than that she didn't move at all from her position, looking blissfully happy.

Iris walked back out the front and looked around. A lawnmower was mowing the lawn by itself at the house opposite and a car was cleaning itself two doors down. There was definitely something to be said about living in a private village. Despite her home being out in the middle of nowhere there'd always been a risk of being seen, so previously she'd always kept her magic hidden, only doing it behind closed doors where no one could see. It would be nice to relax and truly be herself here.

She moved off down the road a little way but she'd only got a couple of houses down before she felt something from the other side of the street. She couldn't really describe it, a nudge maybe, no it was a pull. She walked towards one of the other houses and felt that pull get stronger. As she approached the door, she could see it was open a crack. She looked around and then peered through the gap.

‘Hello!' she called out but there was no reply.

That pull was still there so she pushed the door open a bit more and knew straightaway this was Lynx's house. She could feel it. From what she'd seen when they'd driven in, the village was quite sizeable, maybe three or four hundred houses in total, so it didn't seem particularly fair that she would end up living two doors away from the man who had constantly occupied her thoughts ever since she'd met him.

Still, she was here now so she might as well face the reunion. She'd tell him that just because she had grabbed him and kissed him like her life depended on it, didn't mean that she wanted to revisit the moment. Even though, if she was honest, she desperately did. She'd tell him they were both adults and they could obviously behave sensibly around each other without the need to kiss each other. Although Lynx might not have any intention of kissing her again so that would be an awkward conversation. No, she'd tell him they could move past the kiss, and there was no reason for it to be weird between them, but that she still hadn't totally forgiven him for the way he'd stolen the locket.

The locket. Was that here, was that the pull she'd felt? She refused to think it was Lynx's presence that had drawn her to the house. It would make a lot more sense for it to be the locket.

She pushed the door fully open and stepped inside. ‘Hello?'

There was no answer, no sound, no sign at all that anyone was there. And while stealing back the locket was tempting, partly because she'd love to wipe the smile off Lynx's face, Wolf had trusted her enough to let her into his village and she had to prove she was worthy of that trust. She decided to go. She was sure she'd bump into Lynx again soon enough and Wolf had promised her he would return the locket to her if he believed she and her nan had a claim over it, which they did and had proof of.

She was about to turn around when she suddenly got an overwhelming sense that she belonged there, which was the weirdest feeling to get from somewhere she'd never been before. She moved further into the room and looked around. It was a cosy-looking lounge, with a large grey corner sofa facing the TV, a simple grey rug in front of the fire. It was smart, masculine and really not to her taste, so why did it feel like she'd just come home?

She touched the sofa and suddenly got flashes of Lynx's future, just a few seconds of each image, like a photo slideshow played on fast forward. Lynx kissing her on the sofa, Lynx making love to her there, her lying on the sofa with her head in his lap, heavily pregnant, the two of them cuddled up on the sofa with their baby between them.

She gasped. ‘No, no, no, no.'

She quickly turned and ran from the house and banged straight into Lynx. She bounced off his hard chest and would have hit the floor if he hadn't reached out and steadied her with his hands at her waist.

He blinked in surprise. ‘Iris?'

She realised that this was the first time he had seen her as her real self and not the pretty blonde he'd kissed in London. She guessed he recognised her from her aura.

She huffed out a breath. ‘Yeah, hi.'

He reached out a finger and touched one of her red curls. ‘Is this the real you?'

She nodded, still trying to push the images of her future away.

‘I like the red,' Lynx said, the hand on her waist snaking around her back. ‘I haven't been able to stop thinking about you.' His eyes cast down to her lips.

No, he wasn't supposed to be thinking about her like this or looking at her like he really wanted to kiss her again. She didn't need any complications with a man like Lynx. She was going to stay here for a few months and get out. She was ignoring the future she had seen. The future was what you made it and if she wasn't here then none of that could happen.

She stepped out of his arms. ‘I should go.'

He frowned in confusion as if suddenly realising where he had found her. ‘Why were you in my house?'

‘I was, umm… looking for you. Just to say that what happened in London stays in London and just because I'm here now doesn't mean it has to be weird.'

Although she was definitely making it weird.

‘Your door was open so I thought you were in. When I saw you weren't, I came back out.'

‘At a hundred miles an hour. What's wrong?'

‘Nothing.'

He narrowed his eyes. ‘Your ability to know things, to see things. Did you see something in there you didn't like?'

‘You could say that.' Iris moved away from him, but he caught her hand.

‘What did you see?'

She shook her head. ‘It doesn't matter.'

‘I think it does if it made you run out of my house like the hounds of hell were after you.'

‘I can handle them. Look, if you must know, I saw your future and futures are funny things to see. They haven't happened yet so how do we know they will? There are a thousand different roads in front of you, every decision you make, no matter how small, is a fork in the road and can change your life irrevocably. So surely what I see is just one possible future, not the future.'

‘I don't know if every small decision counts. What I have for dinner tonight is hardly going to change my life forever.'

‘It could. Say you can't decide between beef stew and mushroom soup. In the end you opt for the mushroom but it has an ingredient in there you're allergic to. You get rushed off to hospital and you fall in love with the doctor that saves your life, you get married, have lots of babies. If you had gone with the beef stew, you would never have gone to hospital and never have met the love of your life.'

He smirked. ‘That's some life-changing mushroom soup.'

‘It might be an extreme example but life can change for us in a blink of the eye, so I don't think anything is set in stone.'

‘I can understand that, but I can't understand why a glimpse of my possible future would upset you so much. Do I die a horrible death, hopefully non-mushroom-related?'

She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘Maybe you will. I still haven't forgiven you for the way you stole the locket from me. I could think of many ways to ensure a very painful, long drawn-out death.'

He laughed. ‘I'm sure you could. You're not going to tell me what you saw, are you?'

‘Nope. If it happens, I'll tell you then that I foresaw it.'

‘If I get eaten by a bear, you'll tell me then, oh yes, death by bear is what I saw, rather than telling me now so I avoid all bears.'

‘Not too many bears in Cornwall.'

‘But life can change in the blink of an eye,' Lynx said, obviously mocking her.

‘You're an ass and I hope you do get mauled by a bear.'

She marched off and returned to her house, kicking off her shoes as soon as she was back inside. She needed some water therapy after speaking to him.

Morag was curled up asleep on the sofa and looked up at her when she walked in. ‘Problem?'

‘We may be staying here longer than I thought,' Iris said through gritted teeth.

Morag simply rolled her eyes and went back to sleep. Iris stormed outside and joined her nan who was still standing in the stream, her eyes closed. The water made her feel better instantly.

Ness didn't say anything at first but after a while she spoke. ‘When a man gets under your skin like that the best thing to do is sleep with him.'

‘I'm not sleeping with Lynx Oakwood.'

‘Sure you won't,' Ness laughed.

‘He's a witch. Why are you encouraging me to sleep with a witch when you've always made it clear you hate them?'

Ness shrugged. ‘When in Rome.'

‘Really? Thirty seconds in a witch village and now you love them?'

Ness opened her eyes and looked at her. ‘You might not be able to see your future very clearly, but I can. He makes you happy. Very happy. I can't hate that.'

Iris let out a groan of frustration and stormed back into the house. She hated feeling like she had no control over her life, like her whole future was mapped out in front of her and she had no say over it. One kiss and the rest of her life was decided for her. That was ridiculous. And yes, the kiss had been something so much more than she'd ever experienced before but that didn't mean she was ready to settle down, get married, have babies. She didn't even know Lynx. All she knew was that he had used the best damn kiss of her life as an opportunity to steal the locket from her. Could she really trust him?

But there was something about this man. Ness was right, he had got under her skin. She felt like a moth drawn to a flame with him. But would she get burned if she got too close?

She sat down next to Morag, sinking her hand into her soft fur. She thought about what she'd seen of Lynx's future, and even though it had only been flashes, she had seemed happy. Would she be a fool to turn her back on that? Wasn't it at least worth finding out if they had something more in common than an incredible kiss?

She sighed. She'd never been good at relationships. Making friends and having boyfriends had always been hard because she had this great big secret she couldn't really share. She remembered her first boyfriend, if you could really call him that. She'd been eight years old and they used to hold hands in the playground and sit next to each other in class. One day, they'd been out on the school field at break, making daisy chains, and she'd been brave enough to show him a bit of her magic, just a little bit, the daisies floating around her. He'd run away screaming and never spoken to her after that. Maybe she should have prepared the ground before she'd launched the magic on him, at least spoken a little about magic so he knew what was coming.

Years later, when she had been fourteen and hanging around with a group of friends at one of their houses, one of them had been upset over her boyfriend dumping her. Without thinking Iris had pulled a box of tissues to her from the other side of the room. The girls had completely freaked out, saying she was evil, a demon and a witch. The mocking had continued for many years, and she certainly hadn't been part of the friendship group anymore.

The last person she had told had been Jack. She had loved him so much, they had been perfect together. She'd been nineteen when they met and had dated him for two years, genuinely believing they would spend the rest of their lives together. On her twenty-first birthday he'd proposed and she'd said yes but the next day she'd realised she couldn't get married to him without telling the truth about who she was first.

She hadn't shown him any magic, not at first. She'd just told him that she was part kelpie and part witch. He hadn't believed her, thought she was making it up, and couldn't understand why she would say such a thing. So she'd shown him her magic and he had been horrified, running out of the house so fast she'd barely seen him for dust. He'd come back a few days later to tell her he'd done a lot of research into kelpies and believed she had charmed him to fall in love with her. He even threatened to sue her if she didn't remove the spell she'd cast on him – which would have been interesting if it had ever gone to court. Iris had been heartbroken that he could think that of her or that she was anything to be scared of. She was still the same person he'd loved for two years. She'd been put off having a proper relationship ever since.

That was until Christopher wormed his way into her life. She had loved him too and his betrayal hurt even more because of that. She didn't know if he had somehow heard about the locket and charmed her and her nan to get hold of it, or had simply seen it one night when he was having dinner with them and decided to take it. She kind of hoped it was the latter because the former didn't bear thinking about. She had made love to that man, he had told her he loved her. If all of that had been fake just so he could get the locket, that kind of betrayal burned in her gut. But either way, he was just another in a long line of people she had trusted who had let her down.

So she was wary of getting involved with Lynx, of trusting someone enough to not only not hurt her but to love her, all of her, exactly as she was.

Although at least her magical abilities wouldn't come as a surprise.

She supposed as she was going to be here for a few months it wouldn't hurt to find out what kind of man he really was.

And whether the second kiss would be just as good as the first.