A Touch Dazzled

A Touch Dazzled Zodiac Cove: Book Five Sonia Hartl Zodiac Cove Publishing LLC Copyright Published by Zodiac Cove Publishing, LLC Copyright © 2023 by Sonia Hartl All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are coincidental. Cover Designed by Natasha Snow Designs www.natashasnow.com Copy Editing by Monique Conrod A Short Recap A Touch Magic: Zodiac Cove Book 1 Audrey and Wes grew up in Zodiac Cove with a legend that stated their island had been formed from the sea by the gods and goddesses of the constellations as a gift for their human lovers. The children born on the island, descendants of the zodiac, were gifted with magic. Until a curse that would sink the island into the sea was unleashed. The descendants trapped the curse within a cave at the center of the island, but they used all their magic to carry out the binding, held within twelve birthstones that framed the cave’s entrance. Most of the original descendants left Zodiac Cove after losing their magic. Three hundred years later, an earthquake hit the island, releasing the magic that had trapped the curse. Audrey had been with Wes in the woods after he caught her skinny dipping in his hot spring when the earthquake struck. Wes pushed her out of the way of a falling tree, and their touch ended up activating their magic. Audrey’s was water-based weather manipulation, and Wes’s was lightning. Their magic also came with the unexpected side effect of making them super horny. The curse was also freed from the cave. According to the legend, it had four phases of destruction before it would sink the island. First, it would attack the minds of magic users, then physically attack, then trap them all on the island, then block out the sun, before finally sinking the island. Audrey and Wes were mentally attacked by the curse’s smoke and had to learn how to use their magic to combat it. Which wasn’t easy. Although Wes was in love with Audrey for over a decade, she used to date his brother. Audrey hated Wes because she overheard him talking shit about her to his brother. Wes thought she hated him because he told his brother to leave the island without her. But they couldn’t get the side effects of their magic under control until they learned to trust each other. Slowly, they began to let each other in until they had more control over their magic. Through working together, they figured out there were twelve descendants of the zodiac on the island for the first time since the originals left, which was what triggered the earthquake and the magic being released to their human hosts. They also figured out opposite signs, like themselves (Scorpio and Taurus) had to touch to activate the magic because they worked like a battery, with a positive and negative end jump-starting each other. When they got to a point of trust with each other that they could reveal everything, Audrey finally understood why Wes had said those things about her to his brother and understood that his brother only asked Audrey out to stick it to Wes because he knew Wes was crazy about her. They spent the night together and their bond grew more. After they discovered the original descendants had also given up their memories to stop the curse, they began to understand that they weren’t meant to trap the curse in the cave again. They were meant to use their magic to destroy it. So they battled the mental attacks. They went up to the cave looking for clues on how to defeat the curse, and through a mental attack, the curse almost convinced Wes to give up his magic, which would’ve cost them the island. Audrey pulled him back from the mental attack due to the strong bond they now shared and they declared their love for each other. When that happened, their powers combined. The curse attacked harder and tried to burn down the forest and sent Audrey’s grandma’s house tumbling into the sea off the cliffs, but Wes and Audrey ended up defeating the curse’s attempt to burn down the island. Wes asked Audrey to move in with him and the curse made an appearance on the beach, suggesting it would be targeting Finn (Libra) and Thora (Aries) next. A Touch Charmed: Zodiac Cove Book 2 Finn went to Thora’s parents’ house where she’d been staying to tell her they needed to work together to defeat the curse. Thora surprised Finn when he was on a ladder, tapping on her window. He fell and broke his leg. Thora placed her hand over the wound to stop the bleeding and ended up healing his leg with the magic she didn’t know she had. She freaked out and ran from Finn, but he caught up to her easily because he had speed power. It was the first time they’d touched in over seven years. Finn began kissing her when the side effects overwhelmed them both, but pulled back because he knew it was only the magic making her act. Thora didn’t want to accept that she had magic at first, but she grew up with the legend and knew it was true. She was walking through the woods when she was attacked by the curse’s snake. Finn found her and they touched, activating their magic. She healed and healed Finn as well. Finn asked her to move in with him for both their protections since the curse was targeting them with physical attacks. She refused. Later that night, her father, the mayor, wanted her to fire Finn from the festival’s construction projects. She refused and he kicked her out.