Page 40 of Hexed, Vexed, & Undersexed

“My mother was far more powerful than me. She spelled me to remain in cat form until another witch of equal caliber could reverse it.”

“But you do have magic?” I question.

“Yes, would you like to see?” he offers with a lascivious glint in his eye.

“Um. . .” My brain short-circuits as I scramble to answer him. “Maybe later. We need to figure out what we’re going to tell the network since my familiar is no more.”

“We’ll just say he got loose and ran away. No one will doubt our story since Binx was the most questionable domestic cat ever,” Preston jokes. “Maybe we can get you a better pussy.”

“Evanora’s pussy is perfect,” Kai purrs, staring directly at my needy lady bits.

“For once, we’re in agreement,” Preston agrees, and my body temperature jumps up sixty degrees.

Kai shoots him a sharp grin that makes me uneasy.

“Besides, losing her familiar is the least of Evanora’s worries.”

“What is?” Preston wants to know.

“Bellamy.”

“Bellamy?”

I jump in to explain the Porter-Putnam feud.

“See,” I say when I’m done, “Bellamy will always have his magic to help in the next trials. The only reason I won the first one was because of a time technicality. Unless the network times the others. . . I’m fucked.”

“Not unless you have magic of your own,” Kai counters.

“And how am I going to do that?” I snort.

“By binding me to you,” he whispers with a naughty grin. “Then, you’ll have access to my magic.”

“And, what exactly, does ‘binding’ herself to you entail?” Preston demands sardonically.

“Not much, just a little spell on my part. I have much to lose and she has much to gain.”

“Then why offer?” my on-screen coach wonders.

“Because I have her best interests at heart,” Kai says so sincerely, I practically melt at his feet.

My familiar is nothing more than a big ol’ kitty cat.

“What do you say, Evanora?”

“Gram!” I holler, calling on the one woman I just swore not to ask for help.

Surprisingly, there’s only silence.

What is the old bat up to now?

“Never mind her, give me your necklace,” Kai orders.

I gingerly unclasp the pendant Gram made for me from around my neck and hand it to Kai.

“Here, hold this end,” he continues to boss.

Preston looks at me questioningly and I just raise a ‘I have no fucking clue’ brow.