Free A Wicked Good Witches Paranormal Romance Books 1-7 (Wicked Good Witches Seasons) by Starla Silver Page A

his pocket. He plunged it into the water and after a second, it twisted in the palm of his hand and lit up. “That’s the way we head.”
    “Nicely done,” Charlie said, impressed. “You’re good at being a witch, you know.”
    “If this is your way of trying to suck up, don’t bother, Charlie. I’ve made up my mind. I’m leaving at the end of summer. I, uh, already enrolled in classes.”
    Classes… shit… he hadn’t realized his brother had done that.
    “Just because you’re given some gift ,” Michael continued after a minute, “doesn’t mean you should be stuck with it the rest of your damn life.”
    “I get that, Michael. Of all people, I really do.”
    “I didn’t mean it to come out like that,” his brother apologized sincerely. 
    “The thing is, Michael, you’re not wrong. You’re not wrong to want a life outside The Isle. What happened to me, that wasn’t my choice, but I have to live with it regardless. Just remember that you’ll have to live with the choices you make. And your choices don’t affect just you… they affect me, and Melinda, and William, too.”
    “You think I don’t know that? Why do you think it’s taken me this long? I wanted to leave with Emily, back when she went to college. But I stayed, Charlie. Mom and Dad were gone and Melinda was a wreck. But she’s getting better now and Mom and Dad aren’t coming back. They’re gone.” Michael took a frustrated breath. “Have you ever considered that maybe it’s just time to move on? Let someone else handle all this supernatural, protecting-the-isle bullshit…”
    “Someone else? Like who?”
    “I don’t know, Charlie. Just, not us. Hasn’t our family given enough? What law says it has to be a Howard sacrificing their lives to protect this island? And for what? To die trying to find a magical power source hidden on the Isle hundreds of years ago. Look, I get why you don’t want to leave this place. You fear being away from the Isle might trigger your curse. And you feel a responsibility to be here. That it’s your solemn fucking duty to be here. But I don’t, Charlie. And that’s the God’s honest truth. All this place does, is take from us.”
    Charlie dropped his head, no idea how to respond. On so many levels, he agreed with his brother. But the obligation that plagued him to uphold his family’s heritage overshadowed everything else. Everything except, as Michael said, the fear that something would trigger his curse.
    They finished readying their diving equipment in silence. Charlie’s thoughts strayed to the day his life had changed, the day he had lost control of his own future.
    It was ten years ago now, he was only sixteen, and yet he remembered every detail as if it had just happened. They had been hiking on the Isle, deep in the woods. Michael, Charlie and their father, Jack.
    He saw the pathway they had been hiking, clearly in his mind. They were walking downhill, hurrying to get back to their campsite as the sun had set and the moon was rising up over the tall pines and maple trees. It was big and bright, but still a day from full.
    Charlie could not help but grin as he remembered them laughing. He could not recall the joke, but their father had told it, and it wasn’t even remotely funny, and yet they had laughed and laughed. They had been laughing so hard that the attack caught them completely by surprise.
    A monstrous gray wolf jumped onto their path, blocking them, almost as if it had been awaiting their arrival.
    Charlie remembered that before feeling fear, his first thought was, Why is there a wolf on the Isle? There are no wolves here. Yet here one was, lunging toward his father’s throat. They’d had but a second to react. 
    All Charlie could think to do was use his own body in defense and threw himself in front of his father. Even at sixteen, he was bulkier than his father was.
    Michael attempted to use magic to stop the wolf, but he wasn’t fast enough and the spell missed the