Page 5 of The Fang Arrangement (Celestial Witches #2)

I round my desk, leaning against it as I take her in. She’s not as timid as the night she came into my bar, but I knew that before tonight; I watch her more often than I’d like to admit. She might be disgustingly kind, but she still has a fire within her.

“Hello,” I say with a smile, and her pupils dilate.

“I did not kill that vampire,” she blurts out. “He was going to bite me and as soon as I turned around, he was dead.”

“Mmm. Would you like a drink?” I ask her and she blinks her large green eyes at me.

“No. I would like my wand back and to be taken back home,” she says, folding her arms across her chest.

It doesn’t have the effect she hopes because now I’m staring at her large, full breasts, thinking about how delicious it would be to bite her there.

She snaps her fingers at me, and I’m taken aback as I blink at her.

“My face is up here,” she says, pointing at her heart-shaped face that houses seductive green eyes and plush pink lips.

“Can you blame me for the distraction? Tell me, why were you at Howl at the Moon tonight?”

Her lips part at my slight flirtation.

“I was on a date.”

My brows furrow. A date? Betty didn’t tell me she was going on a fucking date. She and I are going to have words later tonight.

“Was he ugly, or boring? Is that why you found yourself suspiciously outside the back of the restaurant where a member of my house was found dead?”

“He was fine, handsome, nice, a shifter.”

I rise too quickly from the desk and enter her space. Her spine goes ramrod straight in the chair, but her gaze doesn’t look away from mine. I can’t help but to smile at her ferocity and strength.

She might be good, but she isn’t weak. Good…very good.

I tilt my head as I grab the arms of her chair.

“Then what was it? What did he do that made you want to run away?”

Her heart is racing, and she can’t stop moving in her seat, even though she doesn’t break our staring contest.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

I click my tongue. “I don’t know, a dead vampire found on Pack Moon Walker property with a Celestial Coven witch as the only witness. It’s rather suspicious, wouldn’t you agree?”

She narrows her eyes at me.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“I fear the vampire council won’t agree,” I reply, feeling like a bastard for making her sweat and lying.

She swallows thickly and I can sense true fear now.

“Perhaps more alliances will fall apart, maybe even an all out supernatural war for this transgression.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “I’ll show you my memories.”

I make a tsking noise and grab her chin. Fuck, her skin is so soft and warm, I missed it. I lean forward, inhaling her sunshine and floral scent for a moment before getting closer to her.

“You think I would take a Celestial witch’s memories at face value? Where is it that your old High Priestess got sent to for fucking around with memories? Toledo was it?”

Her bravado falls, and a deep sense of unfamiliar guilt hits me. The last time I felt true guilt was when I made the decision to change Samantha, but even then, it was short-lived when I saw how suited she was to the immortal night.

“I could save you from the council,” I tell her, the lie easily falls off my tongue.

She’s not on council radar and never will be.

As long as I roam this earth, Ember will be safe.

I’ve protected her from the shadows, and now I can help her protect herself whether or not I can slither my way into her heart.

“Why?”

“Purely selfish reasons. I find myself in need of a witch as of late.”

Her hand grips my wrist, but she doesn’t tug me away from her face.

“I won’t do anything illegal for you,” she says and I smile so hard I can feel it around my eyes.

“Rather rude to suggest I’d have you do something illegal. I mean, you are the one who just staked a vampire,” I whisper the last part, slightly covering my mouth like it’s a dirty secret. That’s when she pulls my hand away and I let her.

“If I refuse?”

“Then you hedge your bets with the vampire council. They’re very into punishing witches.”

What the fuck am I doing? Throwing eight years of restraint down the drain and letting my obsession and some ridiculous prophecy win. I shake the thought away. It’s not a prophecy, it’s a fact. I knew it the moment I tasted her blood all those years ago.

I peek at the column of her throat, wondering if she tastes any different with age. I make a promise right then and there I won’t taste until she offers it to me. The delicious thrill of a challenge has me fighting down excitement I haven’t felt in decades

Her chest rises and falls. It’s only a moment, maybe a figment of my imagination, but I swear I can scent her arousal.

“How long would you need my help?” she asks, and it takes me a second to get back to the conversation.

“Six months,” I reply, throwing out an arbitrary number, hoping that it’s enough time to make her like me. If that delusion isn’t a possibility, at least it will give me enough time to give her the skills she needs to protect herself from my kind.

“I won’t hurt anyone. I won’t use dark magic. I’m not one of your lap dogs doing your bidding.”

Have I smiled this much in the last century? I’m unsure.

“Alright.”

“Alright?” she questions, shocked that I won’t have her do evil deeds for me.

“I won’t use you for nefarious purposes,” I tell her, and she looks skeptical.

If I can get her to agree to this arrangement, I can kill two birds with one stone.

“In fact, I hope that I can help you elevate your magic. I’ve come across a great deal of artifacts that most witches would kill to get their hands on. ”

Take the bait, let the promise of stronger magic entice her.

“Why should I trust you?”

“I’m the better choice over the vampire council, and I’ll agree to all your terms of what you aren’t willing to do.”

“I won’t harm anyone,” she says.

“What if they are trying to harm you or someone you care about?”

She purses her lips and adjusts in her seat. “I suppose that would be a different situation. I won’t do anything that would endanger my coven, either.”

“I think it’s best if your coven isn’t involved at all. You know, the punishment for staking a vampire is vast. I think the last witch who did it was nearly drained,” I say, another lie. They keep falling out of me so fucking easily. Whatever I need to do to get her to agree, I will.

“I’m not at your beck and call like one of your undead minions, either,” she says.

This…this one part doesn’t sit right for me.

“Your nights will be mine if I choose so. The daylight is yours.”

“Right, you can’t come out in the sun,” she says, and I just give her a small smile with a fang, letting her believe that part. While my skin can’t touch the sun, it doesn’t mean that money and science haven’t gone a long way to help me walk during the daytime.

“So you agree, your nights are mine.”

“Except full moons and rituals with my coven.”

“Well then, should we seal the agreement with magic?” I ask, grabbing her wand and handing it to her. I need her to agree before she asks me for any more stipulations I can’t possibly agree to.

She looks at me like I’m unhinged, but she might just match my crazy. Maybe the old homage of opposites attract could be true.

Darkness and sunshine, walking together into the pits of hell to see where we end up.

She shouldn’t agree to my proposition, and I wonder if she feels the same magic between us as I do. Maybe she might fall right into my palm. I’ll protect her, even if I have to trick her in the process.

“I need your name for the spell.”

“Warin Auclair and yours?” I ask, like I don’t know everything about her.

“Ember…Ember Hallow.”

I make a vow of my own that somehow, someway, I’ll get this witch, my witch , to fall for me.