After the Summerland (The Witches of Spring Hill Book 1) by Patricia Proctor

chief of police,” she says with a wicked grin. Stay cool, Selene
thinks to herself. Being spontaneous is not one of her strong suits, but she
has spent all day looking for him and even got dressed up to pick up the kids
on the chance he would be here.
    “Liam Alexander, ma’am,
it’s good to meet you.”
    “Selene Silvan, and the
pleasure is all mine,” she purrs.
    Her voice has just
enough huskiness to sound sexy without sounding like she spent a decade smoking,
but even so, something about her is off-putting.
    “I understand you have
triplets,” she says as she leans against his jeep.
    “Yes” he replies
cautiously. Not only is he very protective of his
kids, but the more she talks, the more unnerved he feels by her.
    “I have triplets, too”
she says casually laughing. “Well actually, they’re not mine - rather my niece
and nephews, but it’s all the same, isn’t it? Anyway, I heard about you and
your kids while shopping this afternoon and I was so looking forward to meeting
another single, excuse me, another parent of triplets.”
    Liam thinks how
unlikely it would be for anyone in town to discuss his family with this
stranger. Having lived here his whole life, he knows that nobody gives inside
information to outsiders — and this Selene Silvan screams outsider.
    Just as he is about to
respond, he sees Rowan, Kaiden, and Chloe walking toward him,
together
. Liam can’t remember the last
time he saw them walking out of school together. Usually, they walk out with
their groups of friends and reluctantly separate as if their friends are their
true family and their siblings and father are simply filler until they get back
to school the next day.
    Liam has tried to teach
them that family is the priority, always, and he encourages them to build
better relationships with each other so that they can learn how valuable they
are to one another. He repeatedly reminds them that friends come and go, but
family is forever. It seems he won’t need to add that to the conversation today
after all.
    Behind Chloe, Rowan,
and Kaiden, he notices a group of three kids, who are obviously related to
Selene Silvan. He glances at her and for a moment he sees something — a glimmer
of annoyance, maybe manipulation, he’s not sure exactly, but definitely not
love.
    Catching him looking, she
quickly replaces the look with a big smile and says, “Oh, look! The kids are
walking out together. Isn’t it nice that they would bond so quickly?”
    Liam looks back at the
kids. Where only a moment ago there was a recognizable gap between them, it now
seems that they are indeed walking together. Feeling somewhat “fuzzy,” Liam
shakes his head, feels a wave of nausea, and looks at his kids again seeing
that the gap is back. Definitely something strange going on, he thinks to
himself.
    “What is Dad doing
talking to that woman? And why does he have that weird look on his face?” Rowan
asks.
    “Does anyone else feel
a little — nauseous?” Chloe asks.
    They all look at each other and pick up their
pace to get to the car and distance themselves more from the Silvans who are
keeping pace behind them.
    “What the hell is Aunt
Selene doing?” Xavier asks. “She always rushes these things — look at how fast
they are walking now,” he says gesturing to the Alexander triplets. “They can
see the spell she’s cast and the reaction their dad is having. Anyone with half
a witch sense can.”
    Cian doesn’t say
anything, secretly glad that his aunt has the patience of a small child. She
would be much more dangerous if she took the time to think through her actions.
More time to manipulate, hurt, damage.
    Brianna shivers as she
watches her aunt change from wicked witch to doting aunt in a moment.
    “Hello kids — I hope
you had a good day at your new school. It looks like you made some new friends,”
Selene croons.
    Xavier gives her the
“lay off” look and hops into the passenger seat of the car before she can say
anything more.