Haven 3: Forgotten Sins

  Haven 3

  Forgotten Sins

  When Jonas Tracer makes a bargain with a witch to charm his mate into loving him, the plan backfires horribly. Now, Nicholas not only believes another man is his mate, but he’s forgotten his past with Jonas entirely. With time running out, Jonas embarks on a journey to recapture Nicholas’s memories and force him to acknowledge their bond.

  Nicholas McCarthy has loved Jonas for over two centuries.

  Claiming the man, though, would prove certain death for the brawny Enforcer. Once the curse is broken and his memories return, he knows he should walk away from Jonas and never look back. But when a ghost from his past returns for vengeance, he has no choice but to seek help from the one man he’s spent years trying to protect.

  Can Nicholas find the courage to come clean with his mate before it’s too late? Or should some sins remain buried forever?

  Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves

  Length: 36,591 words

  FORGOTTEN SINS

  Haven 3

  Gabrielle Evans

  EVERLASTING CLASSIC

  MANLOVE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic ManLove FORGOTTEN SINS

  Copyright © 2011 by Gabrielle Evans

  E-book ISBN: 1-61926-092-1

  First E-book Publication: November 2011

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

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  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

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  FORGOTTEN SINS

  Haven 3

  GABRIELLE EVANS

  Copyright © 2011

  Chapter One

  “Just break the spell.” For three days, Jonas had done everything he could to reason with the witch, Natalie. He’d begged, bribed, and negotiated until he was blue in the face, and still she refused to do anything but smile wickedly at him.

  He’d gone from desperate, to frustrated, back to desperate, and now he was pissed. It had been bad enough when Nicholas refused to accept their mating. With the coven leader now convinced that he belonged to another man, Jonas was going out of his mind. Releasing Natalie in exchange for a spell to make Nicholas want him had been the biggest mistake he’d ever made.

  She’d tricked him, casting the spell so that Nicholas would become instantly infatuated with the first person he set eyes on.

  Unfortunately, Jonas had been halfway across the country when his mate had been bewitched. Nicholas’s obsession with Malakai Bruins made Jonas’s gut burn. It wasn’t just relationship issues. He’d caused so many more problems for a whole lot of people with his stupidity.

  Now, he just wanted to make things right. Even if that meant he could never have the man he loved.

  “Ask me again.” Natalie purred with an evil glint in her eye. “The forty-second time might just be the charm, and you do beg so nicely.”

  Easing back on the small cot, she made a show of crossing her legs and arched her back seductively. “C’mon, big guy, ask me again.” Jonas’s fangs burst through his gums, and his top lip curled. The one thing Natalie wanted to negotiate, Jonas wasn’t willing to give her. She was pretty as far as women went. Long, blonde corkscrew curls, slim waist, big breasts—she was practically a walking advertisement for sex. Maybe if Jonas didn’t loathe her with every fiber of his being—no, not even then.

  Glaring at the witch through the iron bars, Jonas growled. “If you want to do this the hard way, we can certainly arrange it.” Then he spun on his heels and stalked down the corridor, his footsteps echoing off the basement walls. He snarled and grumbled all the way up the concrete stairs and through the door that led into the main part of the house on his way to find Stavion. It rankled his pride to have to ask for help, but he’d exhausted all of his other options.

  With a precursory knock on Stavion’s office door, Jonas pushed it open and marched inside—then stumbled to a stop when he found Elder Winters and the witch they’d rescued from Natalie’s attic.

  “Jonas,” Stavion greeted with a dip of his head. “You know Elder Winters, of course.”

  “Please, call me Layke,” the elder interjected with a smile.

  Stavion nodded again and waved a hand toward the witch. “This is Torren Braddock. He’ll be staying with us for a while.” He didn’t sound very pleased about that, and Jonas couldn’t blame him.

  Not only was Torren a powerful witch, but he was also the biological father of Raina and Teegan’s babies. When the she-weres agreed to adopt the abandoned pups, no one ever imagined that their father would suddenly pop back into the picture. Though the witch swore he wasn’t here to take back his children, Jonas could only imagine what stress and worry Teegan and Raina were going through.

  “Did you get anything?”

  Jonas met Stavion’s eyes and shook his head slowly. “She won’t tell me how to break the curse, where the missing children are, or how to find the other witches. I’ve tried compelling her, but she’s blocking me. She’s just not talking.”

  The office door opened again, and Cassius strolled in with a very small, very loud, squirming bundle in his arms. “Have you guys seen Raven?”

  “Raven?” Jonas fr
owned and shook his head. “Why do you need Raven?”

  “Kendall and Jory took off an hour ago, and Danica has been screaming since her daddy left.” The Enforcer looked exhausted and frazzled as he bounced his daughter in his arms.

  Stavion perked up at the mention of his mate’s name. “Where’s Jory?”

  “Raven took them to Cloud Peak to see Willow and Cole.”

  “Right.” Stavion bobbed his head and scratched at the back of his neck. “I remember that now.”

  Jonas arched an eyebrow and chuckled. The poor guy didn’t even know which way was up at the moment. “Did you just hear what you said?”

  Cassius looked confused, and his lips moved inaudibly for several seconds before his frown deepened, and he shook his head. “Well, fish sticks.” Everyone broke into laughter, and Cassius actually stuck his tongue out. “Kendall says we shouldn’t curse around the baby—which goes for all of you as well.”

  “Have you tried singing to her?” Torren asked from across the room.

  “I don’t sing.”

  “Well, you do now.” Jonas waved a hand toward the very unhappy little one. “Give it a try. What do you have to lose?”

  “May I?” Kieran Delaney stepped into the office behind Cassius and held his arms out, smiling as Cassius passed his daughter over.

  “Kendall called,” Kieran explained. “He thought you might could use some help.”

  “Well, he’s right. I didn’t get a wink of sleep all day. My head is pounding, my muscles hurt, and I feel like I’m going to drop dead.” He cocked his head to the side, and the saddest look crossed over his face when Danica curled into Kieran’s arms and quieted instantly.

  “And apparently, my daughter hates me.”

  “She doesn’t hate you,” Layke cajoled. “You’re tired, hurting, and stressed out. She can sense that. I’ve seen you with her. She doesn’t cry every time you pick her up. She loves her daddy very much.”

  “Poppy,” Cassius corrected before blowing out a long breath.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I just need to get some sleep.”

  “C’mon.” Kieran jerked his head to the doorway behind him.

  “Let’s grab her bag, and I’ll take her down to the cabin so you can get some rest.”

  Cassius looked like he would weep in gratitude. “Thank you. It’s so much harder than I thought it would be.”

  “We’re your friends,” Stavion said quietly, obviously not wanting to disturb the baby.

  “And there are plenty of us,” Jonas added. He’d never really had a family before, and it was a damn good feeling to know that someone had his back when he was in trouble. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.” He didn’t know a lot about babies, but he’d take his turn walking the floor with the little one if it would help.

  He wanted to offer the same to Kieran, or at least have the werewolf pass on the offer to his sister and her mate. With Torren in the room, he didn’t want to bring up Raina and the pups, though.

  They’d all have to settle the parental issue eventually, but for now, it was probably best not to rock that boat.

  Kieran and Cassius said their good-byes and disappeared down the hallway. Once their footsteps died away, Stavion turned to Jonas with a strange look on his face. Whatever was bothering him, Jonas was sure that he didn’t want to know.

  “We’re out of time.”

  “People are in an uproar,” Layke added. “Their children are missing, dead, or drained of their powers, and they want justice.”

  “So, what are you saying? They’re going to execute the witch?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Layke pushed his long, silver-blond hair back from his face and sighed. “I only have so much power, and it’s no secret that the other elders would just as soon get rid of me. They’ve agreed to give you until the end of the month to try and break the spell before we have to deliver her to them.”

  “Won’t the spell be broken when she dies?” Stavion asked.

  “No.” Torren stepped forward and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “It doesn’t work that way. Natalie’s spell is absolute. Only she can undo it. If she dies while the bewitchment is still in place, it will be that way forever.”

  “So, you can’t break her spell?” There went that idea.

  “I’m sorry.” Torren’s huge muscles rippled as he uncrossed his arms and moved them to link his fingers behind his back. “There might be another way, though.”

  “What way? What can we do?” Jonas asked eagerly. He just wanted the whole damn mess to be over with and things to go back to normal—even if that meant Nicholas hating him and refusing their mating again.

  “This is going to sound hokey, but no spell can interfere with true love. If you can make Nicholas McCarthy remember his love for you, it will break the curse.”

  Jonas’s hopes died a painful death with that. “Only one problem with that. He doesn’t love me. This whole mess started because he refused to accept that we were mates. I’m not saying it’s his fault. I alone am responsible for my actions, but he doesn’t love me. So, there is nothing for him to remember.”

  “Did he say he doesn’t love you?”

  “No, but it doesn’t matter. Why else would he deny our mating?” Nicholas might never have said it forthright, but his actions spoke louder than any words.

  “Maybe he did it to protect you,” Stavion offered. “With him being the leader of his own coven, he’s bound to have more than a few enemies. I went through the same thing when I first met Jory, but in the end, I realized the safest place for him was by my side. Maybe McCarthy just didn’t have enough time to realize the same.” Jonas laughed, but it lacked any humor. “I’ve known Nicholas for over two hundred years. Yeah, he was really hurting for time.”

  “I’m sure there’s a reason,” Layke said kindly, but without much conviction. “I’m sorry, but unfortunately, we don’t have any other options. The Council has deemed Nicholas a threat to our world and the preternaturals in it. If you can’t break the spell, he’ll be executed with Miss Halstead at the end of the month.” Sighing in defeat, Jonas dropped his head and willed his heart not to shatter. It was a stupid plan, and it would never work. Nicholas felt nothing for him beyond friendship. Hell, he may not even feel that much. What other options did he have, though—sit back and watch the man he loved executed?

  “I’ll try.” Normally, spending time with Nicholas was no hardship, but with the man’s overwhelming obsession with all things Malakai, it was slowly killing a little piece of Jonas every day. “What is today anyway?”

  “September 17,” Stavion answered immediately.

  “Two weeks?” Jonas felt sick all over again. How was he supposed to make Nicholas love him in two weeks? “What do I do?” Layke smiled and held his hands out, palms up. “Be unrelenting in your pursuit.”

  * * * *

  This was bullshit of the highest caliber. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so why was he locked inside a cabin in the middle of nowhere? Jonas was supposed to be his friend, so why would he do this to him? Why was he keeping Nicholas away from his mate?

  Jealousy. It was the only thing that made sense. Jonas was jealous of what Nicholas and Malakai had. They were all jealous.

  Nicholas paused in his pacing when the deadbolt slid back and the front door of the cabin opened. “Where is my mate?” He asked the same question every time Jonas returned from wherever he went, and every time he received the same answer.

  “With his mates where you can’t get to him.” Jonas sounded exasperated as he pushed his dark hair back from his face and sighed.

  “He belongs to me, though.” Nicholas had lost his anger over the situation, and now he just felt hurt and betrayed. “We have been friends for centuries. Why are you doing this to me?” Jonas closed his eyes and breathed deeply several times before turning to relock the door. “I’m trying to help you, Nicholas.”

  “Then help me get my mate back. They took h
im. They took the man I love, and no one will help me get him back.” Jonas was tall, broad in the shoulders, and had muscles to spare. If anyone could help, it was the vampire standing across the room from him. Even the stubborn set of his square jaw said he was a force to be reckoned with.

  “You don’t love him.” Jonas slid off his jacket and hung it on the hook by the door. “You met him one time. Everything you’re feeling is because of the curse the witch placed on you. We’ve talked about this.”

  Yes, they’d talked about it, but Nicholas didn’t believe a word of it. They were lying to him—trying to trick him because they wanted Malakai for themselves. “What about my coven? What are they doing without me?”

  “Elder Cortez is taking responsibility for the Olympia Coven until you are better.” Jonas removed two bags of blood from the fridge, poured them into cups, and placed them in the microwave.

  “I don’t need to get better. There is nothing wrong with me besides the fact that everyone is trying to keep Malakai away from me.”

  The microwave dinged, and Jonas turned back to remove the cups.

  “I’m not going to argue with you anymore. Malakai is not your mate. You barely even know him.”

  Setting the cups down on the kitchen table, Jonas plopped down in one of the seats and sighed. “Do you remember when we used to go skinny-dipping in the summer?” Nicholas frowned at the subject change. Jonas was trying to distract him, but it wouldn’t work. “We never did anything like that.” Jonas mirrored his frown and cocked his head to the side. “What about that time we went to Vegas, and you got so drunk you puked in that woman’s handbag?”