Page 20 of A Match Made in Coven (Paranormal Romance #2)
Chapter Twenty
Glamours and Glowers
SARAH MICHELLE
Sarah Michelle surveyed the chaos in The Backroom’s parking lot.
The aftermath of Lorcan’s freezing spell was a complete disaster.
Magimedic teams swarmed the area, their midnight blue uniforms a dizzying whirl of activity as they tended to the afflicted humans.
Many patrons still trembled uncontrollably, their eyes round with lingering fear and confusion, even after being released from the enchantment.
Nearby, Obliviators moved through the crowd with relentless efficiency, placing their hands on the temples of those who had stopped shaking.
They worked swiftly to erase the traumatic memories, their indistinct murmurs blending with the general commotion.
For a seedy dive bar frequented by the dregs of society, the patrons had proven not-so-tough in the face of Lorcan’s magic. So much for being thugs.
As if the situation weren’t hexed enough already, a massive glamour had been cast over the entire establishment and surrounding lot.
Shimmering in the late afternoon sun, the spell pulsed with dissuasive energy to prevent any new customers from approaching the building and witnessing the unprecedented open display of magic.
Sarah Michelle’s stomach twisted into a pentagram of dread and frustration. She was in so much trouble for this colossal hexstorm. Royally screwed didn’t even begin to cover it. Her boss was going to have an apoplectic fit, and she’d be lucky to still have a job by sundown.
She startled as a sleek raven-black sedan pulled into the parking lot and purred to a stop near the epicenter of the magical disaster zone. The certainty of impending doom solidified into a dark pit in her gut as the driver’s door swung open.
Chief Inquisitor Riley King unfolded his tall, muscular frame from the vehicle, his imposing silhouette cut against the burned sienna sky.
He whipped off his dark sunglasses to take in the wrecked scene, his expression darkening with each sweeping glance.
Disapproval and anger rolled off him in nearly tangible waves.
Sarah Michelle swallowed hard. Looking at Riley now, it was clear that not even his dreamy newlywed bliss would grant her a shred of mercy today. His old signature scowl was back with a vengeance.
When his obsidian glare finally lasered in on her, she fought the desperate urge to sprout her wings and rocket into the stratosphere to escape his incoming wrath. A hasty invisibility spell was tempting, too, but he’d seen her. It was too late for that. Time to face the music.
Riley strode toward her, each step laced with barely leashed fury.
He was fuming so hard, she half-expected tongues of dragonfire to come shooting from his flared nostrils.
Sarah Michelle steeled herself as he closed the remaining distance between them, certain she was about to get verbally scorched within an inch of her badge.
“Callidora,” Riley greeted her curtly, dispensing with any pretense of pleasantries. “You’re off the Preston case, effective immediately.”
The statement landed like a gavel strike, final and unquestionable. That had never stopped Sarah before. She was about to protest when Riley cut her off with a raised hand.
“You entered a volatile situation without backup,” he hissed. “Worse, you brought a civilian with you, who blew off a spell in a human establishment, affecting over thirty bystanders. What in the seven hells were you thinking?”
“I didn’t bring him!” Sarah Michelle objected, her own temper flaring. “I specifically told Black not to come. But he showed up anyway. What was I supposed to do? Shackle him in the back of my car? His otter attorney would’ve materialized quicker than a witch can mount her broom.”
Riley’s jaw flexed, the muscles in his face drawn taut. “And how did Black know where to go and when?” He fixed her with a penetrating stare that threatened to bore a hole straight through her skull.
Sarah Michelle pressed her lips together, saying nothing.
“You’ve been working with him,” Riley accused, his tone scathing. “Sharing confidential information about an active investigation with a civilian.”
She flinched at that, the truth of it stinging like salt in a wound.
Riley exhaled, some of the fury leaching from his expression.
“The only reason you’re not suspended is because your little unsanctioned operation uncovered a trafficking ring.
Silas and his goons are singing like a flock of cursed canaries.
They’re spilling everything about the magic weapons black market they’ve been running under the Intermixing Department’s oblivious noses. ”
The chief’s tone softened a fraction, but the underlying edge remained. “That’s the only reason those bureaucratic vultures aren’t circling us right now, asking for your head and mine on a silver platter. We’re lucky we didn’t both get the ax after this mess.”
Sarah Michelle’s shoulders slumped. He was right. She’d screwed up. Bringing Lorcan into this, letting him get under her skin… It had clouded her judgment and had been a mistake from the start.
“Who are you giving the case to?”
A flicker of sympathy crossed Riley’s features. “Malatesta.”
Sarah Michelle winced. Of course, it had to be him.
“Don’t make that face,” Riley snapped. “He’s one of the best detectives in the department.”
Yes, Malatesta was good at his job. He was also an arrogant ass who would lord this over her for the rest of eternity. But she bit back that retort, acknowledging Riley with a curt nod.
“I’ll have the case files on his desk by tonight.” Her tone didn’t betray the storm raging inside her. The anger, the frustration, the bitter sting of failure. She’d let everyone down—her department, her coven, herself.
Without waiting for a response, she strode across the parking lot toward her sedan, each step a little harder than necessary. When she got to her car, Lorcan was leaning against it, his expression regretful but also determined. What else did he want from her?
She wanted to scream at him, to demand how he could be so reckless, so stupidly noble. She wanted to shake him until he understood the position he’d put her in.
He detached himself from the car, freeing the front door, and Sarah Michelle quickened her pace, eager to get away from him and everyone else. This was why a Callidora and a Black could never work together. They were cursed.
She reached her car and fumbled with the keys, cursing under her breath for her shaking hands. Lorcan stood a few steps to the side, watching her with those piercing blue-green eyes that saw straight into her soul.
Lorcan cleared his throat behind her. “How bad is it?”
She paused, her finger hovering over the unlock button on the key fob, and turned to face him. The setting sun caught in his tousled blond hair, giving him a halo that only intensified her frustration.
“What do you think?” she snapped, her words sharp enough to cut glass.
Lorcan winced, running a hand through his golden locks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for things to blow up like that. I wanted to help.”
“Help?” Sarah Michelle scoffed. “Oh yes, you’ve been a tremendous help. Thanks to your little magical meltdown, I’ve been taken off the case.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter now.” She gestured at the surrounding chaos. The air crackled with residual magic, causing her hair to frizz at the ends. “You’re free to go harass another detective.”
She finally got the door unlocked and flung herself inside, desperate to put some distance between them. But before she could close it, Lorcan’s hand shot out, holding it open.
“You can’t give up,” he insisted. “We can still—”
“We? There is no we .” Sarah Michelle’s grip tightened on the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white.
The leather creaked under her fingers, proof of the tension coiled within her.
“This isn’t giving up,” she spat, her words dripping with venom.
“This is me doing my job. Or rather, not doing it anymore after your stunt.” She gestured toward The Backroom, where the magical cleanup was still in full swing.
“Look, justice will still be served. Your friend’s killer arrested. Just not by me.”
“You can’t be serious,” he breathed.
Sarah Michelle’s eyes flashed, a spark of magic crackling at her fingertips. “Oh, I’m deadly serious,” she hissed, her words as biting as a winter wind. “The only good thing that came out of this hexed-up day is that I’ll never have to see your face again.”
He frowned and still didn’t release his grip on the car door, his jaw set with the same stubborn obstinacy. “Please, we can still—”
Before he could finish, a surge of raw magical energy erupted from Sarah Michelle’s fingertips. She’d had enough.
The force of her magic slammed into him, far more forcefully than she’d intended. Lorcan’s feet left the ground as he was flung backward until his back collided with the side of a nearby car, the impact echoing through the parking lot with a resounding thud.
Lorcan looked at her. He wasn’t even angry, just hurt—but not physically at least. His perfectly coiffed hair was now a disheveled mess, golden strands sticking up at odd angles.
His eyes widened with shock, then narrowed with another emotion she didn’t care to decipher.
Disappointment, betrayal, or perhaps a mix of both.
His jaw clenched as he peeled himself off the dented car that he fixed with an impatient flick of his finger.
The air shimmered, a faint aura of magic pulsing in response to his roiling emotions.
Sarah Michelle ignored the stabbing sensation in her chest, a sharp pain that carried the bite of regret.
She forced her gaze away from Lorcan. From the shirt that clung to his torso, rumpled from the impact.
From the golden halo of his hair in the fading sunlight.
And from his mesmerizing eyes that threatened to tear down all her carefully constructed walls.
She pulled her door shut and started the engine. The vehicle vibrated under her as if echoing her desire to flee this disaster. Sarah Michelle put the car into gear and drove away, not sparing the man she was leaving behind another look—she was afraid of what it’d do to her heart.