Moonshine & Mischief: Moonshine Hollow #4
Moonshine & Mischief
Moonshine Hollow #4
Kathleen Brooks
Contents
Also by Kathleen Brooks
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
Also by Kathleen Brooks
About the Author
Bluegrass Series
Bluegrass State of Mind
Risky Shot
Dead Heat
Bluegrass Brothers
Bluegrass Undercover
Rising Storm
Secret Santa: A Bluegrass Series Novella
Acquiring Trouble
Relentless Pursuit
Secrets Collide
Final Vow
Bluegrass Singles
All Hung Up
Bluegrass Dawn
The Perfect Gift
The Keeneston Roses
Forever Bluegrass Series
Forever Entangled
Forever Hidden
Forever Betrayed
Forever Driven
Forever Secret
Forever Surprised
Forever Concealed
Forever Devoted
Forever Hunted
Forever Guarded
Forever Notorious
Forever Ventured
Forever Freed
Forever Saved (coming July/August 2020)
Shadows Landing Series
Saving Shadows
Sunken Shadows
Lasting Shadows
Fierce Shadows
Broken Shadows (coming October 2020)
Women of Power Series
Chosen for Power
Built for Power
Fashioned for Power
Destined for Power
Web of Lies Series
Whispered Lies
Rogue Lies
Shattered Lies
Moonshine Hollow Series
Moonshine & Murder
Moonshine & Malice
Moonshine & Mayhem
Moonshine & Mischief
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
An original work of Kathleen Brooks. Moonshine and Mischief copyright @ 2020 by Kathleen Brooks.
Created with Vellum
To my daughter for her participation in the Moonshine Series. It is so much fun talking book ideas with her, and for that, these books hold such a special place in my heart.
Prologue
Jane Farrington took a seat on her deck overlooking the mountains just outside of Asheville, North Carolina and pulled on an old sweatshirt. Her cozy A-frame house sat on the top of a small mountain. Her favorite thing to do after coming home from a long day of work was to sit out on the deck. From there, she could see the night stars shine bright above her and Jane could feel the wind swirling off the treetops below.
The breeze always soothed her as she took in Earth’s entertainment. The birds calling, the animals scurrying, and the stars shining was all the entertainment she needed. Jane felt the energy of all the living things around her and it brought her peace.
During the day she worked as a nature guide for a resort in Asheville. She led hiking adventures through the mountains and whitewater rafting down the river. During the winter, she took groups of skiers on cross country trails. The outdoors spoke to her and fed her soul.
Jane liked to think it wasn’t just because she was a witch with powers derived from Earth, but something even deeper—a connection to the Goddess herself. She came from one of the oldest family lines of the Claritase. The Claritase were the female witches empowered by the original Goddess herself thousands of years ago to help Earth as humans developed. Witches were given one of the four elemental powers—earth, air, water, and fire—to help fuel their magic. The similarly gifted male group was known as the Tenebris. However, during the past few centuries, the Tenebris had turned from their partners into their enemies. The Tenebris had been hunting Claritase and stealing their powers. What happened to the witches when their powers were stolen? They died.
Jane took a sip of her wine and then a deep breath of fresh night air. She’d been in Asheville for two years. It was time to start moving again. She didn’t want to draw the attention of any Tenebris hunters and put her rusty powers to the test.
Jane kept her cover by never using her Earth powers to draw attention to herself, even inside her own home. She moved every two years to prevent people from noticing that she didn’t age. Claritase and Tenebris aged incredibly slowly. She didn’t look a day over twenty-five even though she was four hundred and fifty years old.
A gentle chime of bells sounded from deep within her bedroom. Jane almost dropped her wine glass in surprise. She hadn’t heard that sound in centuries. It signaled an addition to the Claritase history. Jane leapt from her chair, knocking her dinner to the deck, and ran through her open French doors into the bedroom.
“Where is it, where is it,” she grumbled as she dropped to her stomach and began yanking storage bins out from under her bed. The chiming grew louder and her unused magic tingled as her fingertips brushed the storage box containing the Claritase book. She pried off the cover and looked down at the ancient book, the one thing she’d managed to take with her the night she lost everything so long ago.
Her finger sparked and the green light of her earth powers shot from her fingertip into the book, unlocking it. The book pages turned to the last page and writing appeared where there had been none before.
The war is over. Zoey Rode fulfilled the prophecy. There are still rogue hunters so be on guard. If you seek safety, come to Moonshine Hollow, Tennessee. More to come as the historians complete the record telling of the battle for our freedom. ~ Grand Mistress Lauren
Alexander had been defeated. The prophecy of a powerful witch joining with her true love to banish evil had come true. Zoey Rode . . . Jane sat back, hardly believing her eyes. She’d heard the Rode family had been killed off. But then again, her line should have been as well. Jane was the last Farrington.
Four hundred years ago when Alexander, the head of the Tenebris, attacked the Claritase under a white flag of truce, Jane had been fifty years old. Her parents had been respected members of both groups although they were extremely introverted. Her father had been a high ranking member of the Tenebris and her mother a high ranking member of the Claritase until she’d married. Yet that hadn’t saved them. They perished in the surprise attack meant to garner Alexander enough power to take over the entire world, both human and witches alike.
Her aunt had grabbed Jane and forced her to flee as she screamed at the loss of her parents. After picking up a few supplies in preparation to flee, her aunt locked Jane in the room of the man she was supposed to marry and whispered, “Your intended will keep you safe,” before she disappeared. They weren’t true
loves. A treaty had formed the arrangement between two powerful families—one neither Jane nor her mother had wanted.
The lock clicked behind her and Jane never saw her aunt again. Her fiancé didn’t keep her safe. Instead, he’d come into the room and laughed at her grief and bewilderment. “I only wanted your powers and here you are. Let’s get this marriage going.”
He reached for her hand and Jane jumped back. “I’ll never marry you!” she had yelled in defiance. The memory was still fresh even after four hundred years.
“You will, and I will have the powers that are owed to me in the marriage contract.” He’d sneered at her as he’d painfully grabbed her arm.
“You murdered my parents!” Jane had screamed. She’d always been peaceful, calm, and respectful of her powers since her father hadn’t wanted her to use them. But she had called on them then and they didn’t let her down. Generations of power had flowed through her as she unleashed all she could.
He’d screamed, dropped to his knees, and Jane beat back his powers until he was smoking, literally. But Jane couldn’t do it. She couldn’t take a life. Instead she had run and she’d been running ever since. But now? Now she could finally stop running.
Jane grabbed the hiking pack she used for a purse and stuffed the Claritase book into it. She hurried to her closet. Chills swept over her when she put her hand on the handle. The hair on her arms stood up and the magic she’d buried deep within herself surged to life.
“Hello my little witch.”
Four hundred years and Jane had never forgotten that voice. She turned slowly, her hands in fists as her power surged forward.
He looked more mature now. Then again, at fifty, she’d looked like a teenager too. Then he’d been a scraggly youth, barely a hundred years old. His hair was still red, but now it was as wild as his eyes. Sadly, he was still handsome. He was muscled and every inch a warrior. He had been the warrior who lured her parents to their death with talks of a truce between the Tenebris and Claritase, but now he was more powerful and Jane needed to be careful.
“You’ve grown up nice. Maybe marriage to you will be worth it after all.” He eyed her as if she was his. He could be kind, passionate, and even sensitive. But it had all been an act to acquire some of her powers—powers her father had signed over when they’d settled on her dowry.
“There is no marriage, Ian. What are you doing here?”
“The war is over and I’ve come to get my bride, or have you forgotten that we have a contract?”
Jane laughed out loud incredulously. “You led my parents to their slaughter. I’m not marrying you. Ever.”
“I will have what’s mine, Jane.” His voice lowered as he took a threatening step toward her. “I was being nice by offering marriage. But if you won’t play nice, I’ll just take what I want.”
Jane knew what that meant. She’d either marry him or he’d kill her and take her powers through battle. Ian reached up to touch her and Jane lost control. Her green earth powers shot from her fingers and into Ian, sending him flying backward. The tattoo on his neck of circular swords with a drop of blood in the center started to shine brightly as Jane fired her powers at him. If she killed him, the circle would flash and turn him to smoke. And then his powers would be hers.
However, Ian was more powerful than he’d been centuries before. When he fired back, the power slammed into her, chasing her powers back. Jane’s fight or flight instincts kicked in as her rusty powers woke. She felt the tidal wave of her powers hit hard as they shot from her fingers and stopped Ian’s attack. The second his magical assault stopped, Jane was leaping from the second story balcony.
She hit a pine tree limb hard but it gave way, bending to her weight until she could drop to the next branch. Energy zapped the branch and suddenly Jane was falling the last four feet. She landed on her feet and looked up to see Ian aiming his hands at her. Jane grabbed hold of her backpack straps over her shoulders and ran.
“Jane!”
She never looked back as she jumped fallen trees, splashed through creeks, and climbed mountains. She didn’t look back for days as she ran through the mountains for over a hundred and sixty miles while she did her best to cover her trail so Ian couldn’t follow. Her legs ached and her power and energy were completely drained as Jane finally stumbled into Moonshine Hollow, Tennessee.
1
The sun had not yet risen over the Appalachian Mountains in the sleepy little town of Moonshine Hollow, Tennessee to start the late autumn morning. Zoey Rode-Mathers had snuck out of her small cottage house at five in the morning with her black lab, Chance. She could have poofed her way to her small bakery on Main Street, Zoey’s Sweet Treats, but she chose to walk through the cold mountain air that seemed to be so clear that everything she saw was enhanced.
Why would she poof her way to the bakery and miss out on this? Sure, one of the perks of being an accidental witch was being able to snap her fingers and end up exactly where she imagined. However, Zoey craved normalcy after discovering she’d accidently been turned into a witch by two old women, Agnes and Vilma, and being the powerful key who won the battle between the Claritase and the hunter sector of the Tenebris.
So Zoey enjoyed her quiet morning walks. Chance didn’t talk about witch training, battles between good and evil, or the upcoming wedding to the love of her life. A love that just happened to be a sexy, powerful Tenebris witch named Slade.
Zoey flicked her fingers and opened the lock to the back door of her bakery. Chance yipped happily and ran to the chew toy in his dog bed in the corner of her kitchen.
“What do you think about some holiday cheer?” she asked Chance who thumped his tail excitedly. “I think so too. It’s twenty-five days until Christmas. I think some chocolate peppermint muffins are just the thing.”
“And it’s twenty-one days until your wedding.”
Zoey screamed and jumped. She turned with her hand on her heart to find Vilma and Agnes standing there. Vilma’s white hair was permed in such a style that you were instantly reminded of a poodle. Agnes’s white hair was sticking out in every direction since she had decided to grow it out. Zoey gave it three more days until Agnes cut it all off again.
Both women looked to be around eighty. In reality they were closer to a couple of thousand years old. The ruby red velvet tracksuit Vilma sported and the emerald green one Agnes wore hid their age well. So did the magic imparted to them by the Goddess.
“Agnes, Vilma! It’s five in the morning. What are you doing here?” Zoey asked as she gathered ingredients for the peppermint muffins.
“Did you not hear us?” Vilma asked.
“Three weeks until not only your wedding, but until the winter solstice. There’s not a moment to spare!” Agnes said as Zoey began to measure out the ingredients.
“Can’t I just have my mornings to bake in peace? What more is there to possibly plan?” Zoey asked. She turned on the large commercial mixer and turned to the women who had become like grandmothers to her. She crossed her arms and tapped her finger on her opposite elbow in a move that would cause grown men to shrivel when she was an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles. Agnes and Vilma rolled their eyes.
“Have you decided who is going to walk you down the aisle?” Agnes asked for at least the hundredth time.
Zoey’s birth father, Magnus Rode, had left her when she was just a child in order to protect her from the Tenebris who had thought they’d killed the last Rode when they had killed Zoey’s grandparents. Zoey hadn’t known her birth father was alive until he’d come back in time to help her win the battle against the evil Tenebris leader, Alexander.
The trouble was, during the decades Magnus was in hiding, her stepfather, Dr. Bradley Mathers, had raised her. While Zoey thought her stepfather and mother hadn’t loved her because they’d sent her away to boarding school as soon as they could, it turned out they’d done it all to protect her. Her father had given his stamp of approval to Bradley before disappearing. So now she had two fathers who ha
d done everything they could to keep her safe as she grew up.
“Are we talking about the wedding?”
“Oh my Goddess!” Zoey screamed again as she leapt back in surprise. “Would you all stop poofing into my kitchen! Use the door. Try this thing called knocking.”
Grand Mistress Lauren, the head of the Claritase, shrugged one shoulder in her cream boat neck sweater. She used her hand to push her black hair back as she rolled her teal eyes. “I don’t knock. Now, are we discussing the wedding?”
“Did I hear talk of the wedding?”
Zoey groaned as Grand Master Linus, the newly elected head of the Tenebris, poofed into the kitchen.
“Yes!” Lauren said excitedly. “Our first Claritase and Tenebris wedding in over four hundred years. I can’t wait for this royal wedding.”
Zoey’s eyes widened as she took in the word royal combined with wedding, her wedding. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. No one said anything about this being a royal event. We don’t have royalty . . . do we?” She was still learning after all.
“Well, no,” Lauren conceded. “But if you’re going to be negative about this you can leave it to us. We’ll plan it all.”
“Has everyone forgotten that I’m the bride? That this is my wedding?” Can’t she just have a simple wedding?
“No, you can’t. You and Slade are the symbol of our future.”
“Lauren! You promised to stop reading my mind without permission.” How was this Zoey’s morning already and the sun wasn’t even up yet?