Free Rescued (Book One of the Silver Wood Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel by Hazel Hunter

Almighty.  
    “I have heard that we assemble to slaughter a great many pagans, my lord.” Delight made his girlish voice a little shriller than usual. “Is this so?”  
    “We come together to discuss it today,” Nathaniel told him. “Can I count on you to help us prevail, Brother?”
    Alvis pulled the battle axe he kept strapped to his back over his shoulder and presented it in salute. “Show me where they are, and I will chop them into pig food.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

    TROY PULLED OFF his shirt and used it to wipe the sweat from his chest before he buried the tip of his axe in the chopping stump. He hung the shirt around his neck before he threw another half-dozen split logs to the pile in the barrow. Even with the temperature dropping it felt good to be working outdoors. A faint, frosty mist diffused the afternoon sunlight, and he suspected from the rapidly-chilling air they could expect a freeze before morning. He could smell the hearty Irish stew Erica had bubbling in the kitchen, and the yeasty-sweet scent of the herb bread Aileen was baking to go with it. The coven’s dogs lay in a loose ring around him, content to watch him work.
    Home. It wasn’t his anymore, but that didn’t change the way it felt to be here.
    It had been seven days since he’d brought Summer to Silver Wood, and while they weren’t any closer to discovering who she was or how to dispel the curse she was carrying, the last week had gone better than he’d expected. The women of the coven had treated Summer with their usual warmth and kindness, with Erica taking her under her wing and helping her adjust to life among the Wiccans. Aileen was now working with Summer in the mornings to develop her touch with plants, and even his father spent an hour each night trying to restore her memory with his power of persuasion.
    Troy had been given a noticeably cooler reception, but after abandoning the coven to join the Magus Corps he hadn’t expected to be welcomed back into the fold. His father remained coldly civil, and the other men tolerated his presence, but Wilson was still actively avoiding him. Only Erica, Aileen and Ewan had been openly friendly, although Wilson kept descending at regular intervals to whisk his frail wife back to their cabin to rest.
    “It’s because you initiated me, you know,” Aileen told him one morning when they had a moment alone together in the kitchen. “I’ve tried to convince Wilson that you and I were never meant to be, but he can’t seem to get over it.”
    Troy didn’t regret the brief romance they’d shared, which had ended even before he’d left the coven.
    “I had no idea he was jealous. He’s an idiot, my brother.” He smiled down at her belly. “Have you divined what you’ll be having?”
    “No, and if you can tell, you’re not to tell me,” she warned. “This baby is my first, and I know it’s going to hurt, a lot. If I’m going to get through the labor I need something to look forward to.”
    Erica did her best to bring Troy and his father together at every opportunity, but Abel seemed uninterested in anything but the preparations for the Winter Solstice gathering and following the traditions of the season. He spoke to Troy only when necessary, and usually just to give him another list of chores that needed attending. Troy didn’t mind. When he’d lived at Silver Wood he’d spent more time in the yards and the barns than he had in the big house. A door shut sharply and light footsteps came approaching him from behind.
    “I’m sorry to interrupt, Major, but we need to have a discussion about something.”
    He grinned a little without looking at Summer. She only called him “Major” when she was unhappy or annoyed.  
    “What’s the matter now?”
    She came around to stand in front of him and planted her hands on her hips.  
    “Erica just told me about this sacred moon drawing thing.”
    “Drawing down the moon,” he corrected. “We’ll hold the ritual the next time it’s