With the problematic lumberjack settling down, Sadie rounded the corner of the bar and started fumbling under the counter for a bag of herbs her other coven sister, Aleaha, liked to leave her. A little dash of whatever the concoction was would hopefully nix the hex Aidan just downed.
Habit brought a quick smile of greeting to a few regulars, playing off the holy-shit moment she was having as to not scare off any of her customers.
Everything would be fine.
Or not.
A wall of power slammed into her back, sending her sprawling face-first onto the hardwood floor. With her hands braced against the floor, she pushed to her knees and scanned the room. No longer did she see amused faces enjoying a typical evening. Instead, everyone was huddled on the floor with her or outright shifting.
Rippling shockwaves of her magic pulsed through the air to collide with everyone.
Fucking pups couldn’t keep it together this close to the full moon and turned all fur and fang the second something unusual happened.
Fuck. She was so screwed.
How much had Aidan consumed?
From the power in the energy wave still rippling around the place, she’d wager all of it, down to the last purple drop.
Of course. It couldn’t just end there. Not with her luck.
A sudden burst of energy within her responded to the power of her hex. It was looking for a soulmate for the person unlucky enough to drink the potion.
She summoned control over her magic and dared a look over her shoulder to connect gazes with one very determined alpha.
The glow of his eyes stood out from the darkened corner, and there was no mistaking the hungry, I-want to-fuck-you-long-and-hard look in his eyes. And the way his body flexed and moved with a predator’s grace?
Oh, yeah…holy Hades!
Fixated, she could do little else but watch his smooth, sensual glide as he made his way toward her…
Uh-oh.
On hands and knees, Sadie scrambled up the back stairs. She flung open the door to her apartment and slammed it behind her with a flick of the deadbolt.
She had no hopes the flimsy old thing would keep out the big bad wolf.
Maybe there was a way to cancel the effects of her spell another way without what Aleaha and left her downstairs.
She thumbed through her Book of Shadows and found her love spell, but nothing on how to break it. Freaking Hades, this was not happening! Three hundred pages of spells, charms, and protections and still nothing? She so did not want to add to her growing list of offenses with the Silver Circle.
The Elders would strip her of her powers and probably ban her from ever practicing her gift again if they found out what she’d done.
Blood drained from her head, and the room started to spin. Her hand quivered more and more with each page she flipped. “Breathe, Sadie, just breathe.”
Wood cracked against the wall of her apartment.
She clenched her fist across her stomach and twirled on her heel.
The few pieces of apple she’d eaten earlier tried to make a reverse move back up her throat. Swallowing hard a few times helped squash the queasiness, but her stomach bottomed and rolled again. She found it harder to breathe with each swallow she forced past her suddenly dry throat.
“Aidan,” she said breathlessly.
The way the defined muscles of his torso and abs stood out beneath the tight cotton of his shirt drew her gaze first, then it drifted farther until her attention settled on the bulge in his jeans. His gaze steadied on hers, the stark crimson a drastic difference from the smoldering bluish-red tinge he’d had before. He stood in her doorway bathed in the half-lit entryway of her apartment for several seconds, breathing heavy.
She unclenched her fingers and splayed her hand across her midriff to help settle the unruly butterflies. But there was no stopping the warm blush that washed over her from head to toe.
Goddess, he could do things to her…