Yeah, forgetting one Aidan Montgomery, featured pack alpha and werewolf shifter of her dreams, wasn’t likely. She took a calming breath and counted out her heartbeats to steady her thoughts.
Sleepy Briar in the winter was like living in Antarctica and served as a damn cold bucket of water to her runaway thoughts when a cold draft whittled through a crack in the window frame at her back. In fact, she was pretty sure the below-freezing temperatures of her small Maine town rivaled anywhere else on the planet come this late in the year and no amount of lusting after Aidan would change that for her.
Sadie tossed a look at the clock hanging above her couch. Almost time to open the bar. She rolled her shoulders and called forth the five elements that fueled her powers, the call of fire her strongest. Heated energy crackled and popped in the small dining room, fusing the air with enough juice to power up to ten love potions.
She needed this to work. Maybe the spell just needed a jumpstart. “Worth a shot anyway,” she murmured softly.
A long, drawn-out growl from the chair where Luna lounged watching the whole fiasco punctuated her thoughts. Pure white fur fluffed into a bushy ball of static. “Not long now and don’t give me that judgy look, missy. We need the money and this,” she wagged a finger at the bubbling cast iron cauldron on her kitchen counter, “…is the only way I know to get the fast cash we need and to keep kitty nip on the shopping list.”
Her feline familiar blinked once as a human would shrug their shoulders.
Sassy puss. Whatever.
She needed to get on with this before one—or all—of her coven sisters dropped in and found her mixing the forbidden concoction. Not that they would turn her into the Silver Circle, but it would definitely put them all in a pickle if ever questioned or placed under a truth spell. Nasty things, truth spells, and very commonly used on witches with rebellious pasts.
She was well-acquainted with the rules governing her kind and right now she was breaking about five of them, which would get her banned or worse, stripped of her powers by the Elders like they had Harlow. Not cool. But Sadie didn’t see any other choice.
It wasn’t as if the Circle issued loans on magic or would return her sister’s powers. So here she was taking on both problems with an illegal potion. Great idea even if it is illegal.
Before starting, she had flicked the deadbolt in place and stuffed a towel beneath the doors, windows, and every other crack she found in the old apartment to help hide the odor. One of her sisters was bound to stop in for a drink, and her efforts would do little in holding them at bay once they smelled the sweet nectar of rose and lavender. If they did show up before she finished… well, she’d rather not think about how many different ways this could go sideways tonight.
Sadie dipped the tip of her pinky into the swirling mass of fuchsia liquid laced with variant shades of midnight purple, and popped it into her mouth.
Much like her favorite Pop Rocks candy, it tingled along her tongue and down her throat as she swallowed the single teardrop worth.
Mmm. She sucked the single-digit between her lips and sighed.
Dazzling white heat burst to life, singeing her insides to finally detonate in the depths of her core with a powerful need she’d never felt before. She swayed in place and let her eyes slip shut. Just as quickly the all-consuming sensations calmed, leaving behind a blanket of warmth to settle over her entire body like a lover had left her thoroughly sated.
Would finding release with Aidan be that wild and untamed?
Sadie shook her thoughts clear of the sexy alpha.
It worked!
“Thank the goddess this actually has a chance!” She pumped a fist in the air and received a swish of a tail from her plump familiar. “Cheer up, Luna. I think we’re almost there. Just a few final touches.”
Sadie scrolled a finger over the spell she’d penned especially for this task until she came to the last part needed to bind the spell to find true love. What many didn’t know is that this particular love spell also doubled as a reverse spell if combined with just enough dragon’s blood.
Just what her sister needed. That it caused a side case of possible true love was a happy side effect.
True love. Ha. Sadie would be happy if she could get one devilish sexy shifter to look her way one more time. No love particularly required, but in some ridiculous corner of her mind, a roguish shifter to call her own did have a nice ring to it.
If anything, his sapphire eyes and midnight black hair spelled wild lust-filled nights. Her whole body quivered just thinking about the broody male that had spent the better part of the last month holding down the back corner table opposite her bar top.
Damn the goddesses. She knew to the bottom of her soul they’d had her in mind when they cooked up his wolfish charms and good looks. Her body thrummed every time she felt him track her movements as she tended her customers. His eyes had a way of glowing with an ethereal light every time she glanced his direction. Raw heat is what she saw in their depths, and it made her naughty side crave a little dirty romance.
She couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the why, but when their gazes connected, nothing else mattered. For that split second between serving a drink or some other task at hand, everything dropped away and she only saw him, the force of his gaze was like the smack of her love potion to her senses and her thoughts of total possession. She just didn’t understand it. Maybe she didn’t need to. Maybe it was leftover feelings from the night they almost shared.
She didn’t fit under the ranks of saints. She’d had wild nights of hot sex before, but Aidan made her feel different. As if what he wanted would be beyond mind-blowing. If only she knew what had sent him hoofing it out of her bar and away from her when they were so close to finally taking their attraction to the next level.
Did he not feel the same way? If he did, the wolf had a damn good way of hiding it.
She paused and looked down at her handiwork.
The potion. It was playing with her emotions and churning up the hottest passions buried in her soul.
She let out a deep sigh. “Here comes the fun part. Time to nudge destiny a bit.”