I ground my teeth as I watched Devlin wander off in the direction of Brooke.

Part of me had been this close to taking him up on his offer to call it a night, desperate to retreat back to my cabin and away from anyone who might recognize me.

But we’d made a pact. And the scenes read so much better with his help.

Not to mention, he’d gone out of his way to get me a card for Dean Sinclair. I might not have heard of the guy, but judging by Devlin’s excitement, he was a big deal in the indie publishing world. My heart fluttered as I turned the card over in my hand, tracing the embossed lettering with my thumb.

Then it promptly dropped as I watched Devlin approach Brooke.

The water nymph had always been stunning, with iridescent sapphire skin and hair that flowed like liquid silk. She’d always been popular, and for good reason—her looks were only outshone by her personality. Brooke was kind, eccentric, empathetic...

And I’d just sent the first man I’d been remotely attracted to straight toward her.

Devlin hesitated just a few feet away from Brooke, and for a traitorous moment, my mind conjured an image of him turning back. Of him walking toward me , taking my hand in his, his voice low as he murmured, “There’s only one woman in this bar I want to get to know.”

Heat pooled in my stomach, spreading through me in a way I hated.

You have a mate out there somewhere, Jen. He’s the one you should be pining for. Not Devlin.

I clenched my jaw, shoving the thought away just as Devlin took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders, and closed the gap between him and Brooke.

I couldn’t hear his words over the hum of the bar, but I could see him—see the way his lips curled into that smooth, practiced smile, the way he effortlessly maneuvered around Brooke so that her back was to me.

Unfortunately, that also meant his face was in full view.

Which meant I saw everything .

Every seductive grin. Every slow, knowing chuckle at something she said. The flicker of surprise in his golden eyes as she presumably said something eccentric. And every now and then—his gaze cutting my way.

I forced a smile, nodding in support, reminding myself why I was doing this.

I need this dating thing to work.

If I wanted to write a book that had any chance of making it onto Dean Sinclair’s approved list, then I needed Devlin to get his real-life romance experience. So, I sat back, smiled, and pretended this wasn’t making my stomach twist into knots.

But as Brooke ran her fingers seductively through her waterfall-like cascade of hair, something inside me cracked. My grip tightened around the stem of my martini glass, and I had to physically stop myself from snapping it in half.

“ Jenny ?”

The disbelieving voice came from my side, and my head snapped toward it on instinct.

My stomach dropped. Shit.

Of all the people I didn’t want to run into again, Rowan—former friend turned obsessive stalker—was right at the top of the list. He had grown another foot since I’d last seen him, towering at what had to be seven and a half feet now.

His dark hair was shaved at the sides, the rest braided down his back in a traditional orc style.

His tusks gleamed, ivory-bright against his deep, forest-green lips, his sharp features hardened with maturity.

Broad. Sculpted. The absolute pinnacle of orc masculinity.

I had no doubt that half the female orcs in North America were pining over him—if it weren’t for the polished gold septum ring gleaming at the center of his nose, the unmistakable mark of a claimed orc.

Panic surged through me, adrenaline flooding my veins, every instinct screaming at me to run .

But before I could act on it, Rowan took a careful step forward, his voice low and steady. “Jenny, wait. Please don’t go. I just want to talk.”

I froze, my body locked in place, my mind still undecided—was this about to turn into a public scene? Was he about to rally the whole bar against me? Or... did he really just want to talk? I glanced around, searching for any sign of hostility, any indication that a lynch mob was about to form.

Nothing. No hushed whispers. No accusatory stares.

The only person watching us was Devlin. His eyes had narrowed, sharp and assessing, the shadows in the dimly lit room pooling at his feet, twisting toward him like they could feel the tension crackling in the air.

I exhaled slowly, forcing my muscles to unclench. Then, after a moment’s hesitation, I gestured toward the seat across from me. Not because I wanted him to sit. But because it moved him out of the direct path to the exit.

The chair groaned under Rowan’s weight as he settled into it, the half-full glass of ale in his hand clinking softly against the table.

His earthy brown eyes, rimmed with red, locked onto me—wide, disbelieving—like he was seeing a ghost. And, in a way, I supposed he was.

I doubted anyone in Headless Hollow had expected me to have the audacity to come back after what I’d done.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, Jenny,” Rowan said, his voice a low rumble.

A sharp prickle ran down my spine as I curled my fingers into the sleeves of my hoodie, gripping the fabric.

When I didn’t answer, Rowan wrapped his massive hands around his ale glass, lifted it halfway to his lips, then hesitated, setting it back down with a soft clink . Finally, he said, “I was really sorry to hear about your parents, Jenny. They were good people.”

I shrank back into my seat, my body curling inward as if I could physically make myself smaller.

Rowan’s gaze softened. “A lot of us think you’re innocent, you know.”

My jaw clenched. I risked a glance up at him. His red rimmed eyes were wide, pleading—desperate for me to believe him. Heat surged through me, sharp and burning. I wanted to scream at him. At everyone who kept saying they thought I was innocent, or that I’d been set up.

I wasn’t .

I did it.

The memory was crystal clear in my mind, and I needed people to stop trying to defend me, to stop apologizing like I was some kind of victim. But the words refused to form. My throat felt tight, and all I could do was stare down at my untouched drink and pray he’d take the hint and leave me alone.

Rowan, of course, didn’t take the hint.

“There were just so many inconsistencies from that night,” he continued, undeterred. “Like, who placed the call to the mortal police instead of our own? And even with the brakes—”

“ Please stop ,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

He hesitated, brows furrowing. “But—”

“I just want to get my life back on track, Rowan,” I cut in, my voice brittle. “I don’t want to dredge up the past.”

Rowan bit his lip like he was physically holding back whatever else he wanted to say. The silence between us thickened, stretching into something awkward, but he didn’t seem in any hurry to leave.

I looked toward Devlin, catching his eye across the bar.

At first glance, he seemed completely absorbed in his conversation with Brooke, his hand resting thoughtfully against his chin.

But his lips were pressed too tight, his jaw clenched just a little too hard.

And every time Brooke looked away, his gaze immediately flicked back to me.

Rowan cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

“I never got a chance to apologize,” he said, his voice lower now.

“You know, for... going crazy that summer and—” He coughed, his tusks flashing briefly as he averted his gaze.

“ Stalking you . Breaking into your house.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, catching his braid.

“I don’t know what came over me. But... I’m sorry. ”

I exhaled, my fingers toying with the stem of my glass. “It wasn’t your fault,” I said, forcing my voice to stay steady. “I didn’t realize my succubus side had... matured.”

“That would explain it,” Rowan said, a wave of relief washing over his face.

“I’ve been plagued with guilt for years over what I did—because it was like, I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t stop myself.

One second, I thought you were cute, and the next, it was a full-blown obsession from the moment you arrived for your vacation.

” He let out a shaky breath. “Honestly, at one point, I even wondered if I’d been possessed. ”

Guilt curled in my stomach. This was my fault.

If I hadn’t been so single-mindedly focused on the Samhain summoning, I would have seen the signs—would have realized what was happening before it got so out of hand. Instead, I’d been so consumed by the idea of summoning my mate that I hadn’t even noticed what I was doing to Rowan.

Maybe... my obsession with my mate was unhealthy?

I mean, it was all I’d been thinking about for almost a decade. But maybe... maybe I needed to take a break from it. A year was a long time to spend obsessing over the next summoning.

If I could find someone like Devlin to take my mind off it in the meantime...

Why not Devlin?

The thought slid into my mind so naturally that it made my stomach flip.

He was single. Looking to date. He’d already shown me more real-life dick than anyone else—not that he meant to—and the next scene he was supposed to reenact for me was Kieran jerking off.

Heat rushed to my face at the mere thought. But just as quickly, another voice slithered through my mind, dark and sharp.

No one wants to be with a witch who murdered her parents.

Devlin deserved someone good.

Someone like Brooke—kind, easy going, and effortlessly normal. Someone who wouldn’t make him second-guess whether one wrong move would mean his brakes mysteriously failed on his next drive home.

“Jenny?” Rowan’s voice pulled me abruptly from my thoughts.

“Sorry—what were you saying?”

“I asked if you’d been to see the Cadmuses yet,” he repeated. “They were really close with your parents, weren’t they?”

I nodded, though my throat had suddenly gone tight.

Rowan hesitated.. “Ms. Cadmus’s health is failing. My mom stopped by the other day and... well, she doesn’t think she has much time left.”

Tears pricked at my eyes before I could stop them.

“Dementia,” he added gently. “It came on fast. Not long after you... er, left .”

“She was already ill that summer,” I murmured, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Not ill enough to stop her from chasing me off your porch,” he muttered, his lips twitching with the ghost of a guilty grin.

I let out a weak, breathy laugh, wiping at my eyes with my sleeve. Yet another reason to put a freeze on my Samhain summoning obsession.

By the time we arrived that summer, Ms. Cadmus had already been unwell, her decline well underway. My parents had just been trying to help their ailing friend. And I had been so self-absorbed, so consumed with summoning my mate, that I hadn’t even cared.

“Jenny,” Rowan said softly, reaching out toward my hand where it rested on the table, an unmistakable gesture of comfort.

But the moment his fingers neared mine, I jerked my hand back instinctively. The tears were falling freely now, warm trails slipping down my chin, but I couldn’t bring myself to wipe them away.

Everything happened at once. One moment, Rowan was sitting across from me, his expression drawn with quiet sympathy. The next, a shadow burst through the dim light, and he was gone.

He wasn’t hard to find. Rowan was pinned against the wall, his broad frame restrained by a thick, beautifully coiled black tail wrapped tightly around his waist.

Devlin stood before him, his chest heaving, shadows curling around his form like a living thing. His sharp, gleaming obsidian talons rested against Rowan’s throat, one pressing just hard enough to draw a thin trickle of blood above his jugular.

The bar had fallen completely silent.

I only noticed because Devlin’s voice—low, deep, and dangerous—practically echoed through the room as he growled, “Did he hurt you?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer. A siren-smooth voice shattered the silence. “Jenny!”

Brooke—completely unfazed by the fact that the demon she had been chatting with seconds ago was now moments away from tearing her childhood friend apart—glided past Devlin and Rowan as if they weren’t even there.

Then, before I could react, she threw her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek.

“Oh my Goddesses! You’re back!” she squealed.

“I missed you so much!” She finally pulled back, but her hands stayed firmly on my shoulders, her sapphire eyes shining.

“I tried to visit you at the start,” she said earnestly.

“But they said you didn’t want to see anyone.

Rowan and I never doubted your innocence. ”

I stiffened.

Before I could correct her, Brooke’s attention snapped to Devlin.

With an exasperated sigh, she gestured toward the orc still pinned to the wall.

“Rowan is the orc you’re currently crushing, Devie,” she said breezily—then turned back to me, completely ignoring the rising tension in the room, and mouthed, “He’s hot as hell. ”

Devlin looked at me, his bourbon eyes searching for confirmation that Rowan wasn’t a threat.

“He’s my friend, Devie ,” I said, barely masking my irritation at Brooke’s choice of nickname for him.

With clear reluctance, Devlin finally loosened his grip around Rowan’s waist. The moment he let go, he stepped toward me and Brooke, his movements slow and controlled, as if still debating whether Rowan deserved to be let off so easily.

Devlin cast one last suspicious glare at Rowan before allowing the shadows wrapped around his frame to unravel and fade.

Brooke, entirely unbothered by the tension still thick in the air, flashed a dazzling smile. “We totally need to catch up soon, Jenny.”

“Yeah, totally,” I said, nodding stiffly. The weight of dozens of stares pressed against my back, the entire bar still watching us. “But I think we ought to call it a night.”

I glanced at Devlin, and for the first time since he nearly murdered my childhood friend, I saw the tension in his shoulders ease. His face shifted into something almost... relieved.

“Awesome,” Brooke chirped as Devlin took the lead, stalking past Rowan with one last lingering glare.

The crowd parted for him, their expressions a careful balance of fear and awe, and I hurried after him toward the exit. Just before I stepped outside, I risked a final glance back. Rowan’s face was drawn tight, his brow furrowed in quiet disappointment.

Brooke, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. She beamed, her signature glittering smile firmly in place as she waved enthusiastically. “I’ll call you so we can meet up! And Devie, don’t forget about my proposal!”