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Alana rolled her eyes. “Looks like Lila is gonna force me to tell you something …” She paused, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and braced herself for their reaction, all the while very much aware that the four men sitting outside were shifters. There was a very real possibility that they would hear what the women were discussing.

Was Cohen telling his brother and buddies that they had sex? Or would he keep that to himself until it became an important piece of the puzzle, just like she had to do? Her eyes darted to the windows of the French doors, and she longed to cross through them and demand that Cohen, the sexy, grumpy sheriff who was the best sex of her life, tell her what their night together meant to him. It wasn’t enough that he had already told her they could be whatever she wanted them to be.

She needed to know what he wanted them to be. She just had to know. It was almost painful to be in this strange limbo of her own making.

“Just say it, girl. No judgments,” Lila coaxed.

“I slept with Cohen last night,” Alana blurted. “A few times.”

“Holy fuck. And then the candle turned on?” Nora gasped. “Holy shit. Is that when the candle turned on?” Nora gripped Alana’s arm, bouncing up and down on her feet. “Please tell me that you were totally with Cohen when it turned on. That is so romantic, I can’t even cope with it.”

“Whoa!” Lila giggled. “Can we take this moment to acknowledge that Nora has used a cuss word?” The other women, including Nora, joined in on the laughter.

“But it is totally strange that you slept with Cohen,” Jade cut in with a frown. “Andthe candle thing. That is definitely weird too.”

“How was it?” Lila asked. “The sex?” She pitched her voice low.

“Ew, that’s gross. Cohen is your brother-in-law.” Nora’s shock was adorable, but Alana also understood it. She was just as jarred by the question.

“Not my brother-in-lawyet,” Lila corrected. “But that’s not why I ask. I wanna make sure that my girl is well taken care of if you know what I mean?” She wiggled her brows suggestively.

Alana pursed her lips. “It was fine. Good. Whatever.”The best. It was the best I ever had. She couldn’t say that without inviting a whole lot more questions that she really didn’t want to answer.

“Ha,” Lila shouted. “It was amazing, wasn’t it? It had to have been. Look at you. You’re all kinds of red.”

“You’re blushing so hard that you look like me,” Nora teased, showing, once and for all, that the shy woman was slowly thawing to her new group of friends.

The witch was indeed blushing more than she had ever had in her life. She made sure to avoid the gaze of each of the women in the kitchen, choosing to focus on the tale she had to share. “So the candle turned on, and now I think it’s because that maybe …” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again. “It might be possible that Cohen is my match.” She barely whispered the last few words, too shocked by how real they felt in her heart and soul.

“Well,” Lila sighed deeply. “It’s not like Cohen would know if you are his mate because of the spell,” Lila chewed on her lower lip. “Damn. Your mother and grandmother really didn’t want you to meet your match, huh?”

“I wonderwhy,” Nora whispered, more to herself than to the others. It was only when she noticed that they were staring at her that she turned three different shades of red. “Well, what? It’s a fair question. If this was a book, your family would have cast the candle spell to keep Alana safe from something. Or someone.”

The four women exchanged a look. The kitchen’s atmosphere turned tense and heavy.

Alana frowned. “You might be right, actually.”

Nora continued to blush. “Probably not, though. Ignore me. I’m just rambling.”

“Please,” Jade snorted, “with the number of books you read? Nope. Not to mention, your mate is a best-selling mystery author. If anyone could smell a mystery where one is to be found, it would be you.”

“You’re probably right,” Alana admitted. “Both of you, Jade and Nora. There is probably more to it than what we think at the moment. I need to find that spell. It must be in one of the books in the shop.”

“Then what are you waiting here for? Let’s go to the bookstore.” Nora stood, ready to go.

The other women chuckled at their shy friend’s sudden flash of energy ... and all because it was connected to a book. It was so on-brand for Nora.

“You would be this excited to look at books,” Jade teased. “But for all we know, your bookish ways just saved the day.”

Nora’s cheeks were the color of a fresh apple. “Let’s wait and see what we discover before we celebrate.”

* * *

Alana stoodin Wixx’s living room, once again stunned by how her perspective had changed.

All because she slept with Cohen right in here, her family’s most magical place, save for the fairy rings where they did several of their rituals.

The candle lighting itself obviously had a big impact on her view of the living room too. What was she supposed to think? She had no idea. All she could do for now was run her fingers on the spine of all the books on the bookshelves while she tried to find the right one. The one that would hold the candle spell.