Page 2
Story: Bad Magic
The last two weeks had been one step forward and four back.I wasn’t the only one who’d been hurt when The Chemist had broken into our coven house.Phoebe, my other best friend, had been badly hurt as well, and the rest of the coven had been magically bound and locked up.Thankfully, we’d had the best healers in the city come and tend us.If it wasn’t for Agatheena, a well-known witch who practiced dark magic, and Fern’s newly found great-grandmother, I wasn’t sure I would have survived.
The growl of an engine rumbled in the distance.
Anticipation filled me, and I shoved back the covers, easing my still weak body out of bed, and shuffled to the window.
A big, black bike rolled to a stop.The rider—tall, broad…huge—swung his well-muscled leg over the seat and climbed off.
Jagger.
“Charming just showed up,” I said.
When I’d first met him, he’d been the complete opposite, so I’d called him Prince Charming.The name had stuck.
The hounds were taking turns watching the house.Yes, the danger was over, but they offered to do it anyway, while the coven healed mentally and physically after the horrors that happened here.
“Is that okay?”Fern asked.
I blew out a shaky breath as Boo, my sweet familiar, landed on my shoulder and, tucking in his bat’s wings, pressed his soft head into my neck.“Yeah.Now that he’s here, I’ll be able to sleep.”Jagger seemed to be on guard duty more often than not.I guess he was the unlucky one who kept drawing the short straw, but I had to admit, I only really slept when he was here.The other hounds were great, but Jagger was the only one who made me feel truly safe.The fact that he was super freaking arrogant and kind of cold didn’t seem to matter.
“I’m glad.Has he spoken to you yet?”
“No, not since…” I swallowed audibly.Not since he’d held me in his arms, licking my wounds and begging me tofucking wake upin that rough and desperate voice of his.“He just stands out there, scowling, then leaves early.”I blew out another breath, and this time it didn’t come out as shaky.Win!I studied his chiseled features and handsome face.“Why does he come here if it pisses him off so much?”
“I think what pisses him off is what happened to you and Phoebe, not that he has to be there.Hounds really don’t like it when females are mistreated.”
“Right,” I said, not believing a word of it, well, except for the part about hounds being protective of females.He looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here.I fought back a yawn and failed.“I think I’ll try to sleep now.”
“Night, Sutton.”
“Night, Fern.”
One week later
The sound of Jagger’s bike echoed up from the street, and I took my first deep breath all day.Yes, I knew what his bike sounded like.They all sounded a little different, and I’d figured out which one was his since he was here more than the others.His bike sounded deeper and resonated through my chest when the growl of the engine filled my room in the dark.
As I always did, I shoved back the covers and went to the window.He was leaning against his bike.I waited for him to pull his phone from his pocket and settle in for the next several hours like he usually did—instead, his head tilted back and his glowing eyes, that were currently hellhound gold, gazed up at my window.
I froze.Could he see me here in the darkness?I held my breath, my feet cemented in place.
Jagger didn’t look away.When his hound was in check, his eyes were a stunning shade of green but could also change to bright red when he was pissed off.
Step back.
But before I could, he crooked a finger at me.
Did he really want me to go down there?
He did it again.
I quickly stepped back.He did, he wanted me to go down there.Crap.
I swallowed, my mouth as dry as hell.Get it together.If the surly hound had something he wanted to tell me, at the very least, I owed it to him to go down there and listen.
I shoved my feet into my pink fluffy boots, and Boo stirred.“I’ll be right back,” I said as I slid on the long yellow cardigan I used for a robe.I shut Boo in before he could follow me, then headed downstairs.My heart raced as I opened the front door and stepped outside for the first time since everything had happened.
Jagger watched me walk along the path, striding forward to meet me with that swagger of his turned all the way up to peak swag.
We both stopped with the tall iron gate between us at the end of the garden path.“Hey,” I said, feeling awkward and shy and…weird.I hadn’t stood face to face with him, talked to him, since that awful day, and even then, he’d been the only one talking.
Table of Contents
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- Page 2 (Reading here)
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