by Lexi Ostrow
Jonathon shook off Deidre’s hand. “We’re not here to buy a spell. We did need to make sure you were who you said you were.” He slipped Deidre’s purse off her arm and held tightly to it. “I’ve got a deal to make, and before you do anything rash, there’s a concussive blast potion in here large enough to take down this entire block. You’re hard to kill, not immortal.” He lifted the bag.
The demon hissed, the glamour falling away to reveal pea-green skin covered in boils. Green pointed ears resembled and elf, and a mouth with two rows of spiky teeth dripped salvia.
“You would think to threaten us?”
“We’re with the NOPD. We came here to ask for your help. We’re not here to bring you in.”
The demon took a step forward, but it was the angel who put his hand out. “Wait. I want to hear what a human thinks he can do for us.”
“We need an informant. Someone on the black market who can tell us what is sold when.”
The angel’s laughter seemed to echo in the empty parking lot. “I don’t think so. And you’ve seen us.”
No one understood how demons and angels cast spells, but Jonathan didn’t want to stick around to learn.
He threw the zipper back, seeing only the black bulb and not the green vial.
It didn’t matter. A cloud of green and black shot out from beside him.
From Deidre.
“Now!” She shoved him to the left, slamming them both into the building.
“Deidre, what–”
“Transport now. Ask questions later.”
He didn’t doubt she meant the haste in her words. Whatever she’d done, the inky green smoke was growing and rolling toward them. He remembered she knew only two hexes, which meant they’d either sleep or lose their memories.
“Not yet.” Closing his eyes, Jonathon focused on a hex. He didn’t know for certain what Deidre cast, but he knew what he needed to do.
The billowing blue smoke grew in his hand as the angel shrieked. Black grew like a hurricane inside the blue, and Jonathon whispered to move the smoke faster. “Anemos.”
Content they’d not remember a thing, Jonathon glanced into her bag he snarled. “Why do you women have so much shit in these tiny bags?”
“Ugh!” Deidre said nothing more, grabbed her bag, unzipped a pouch on the outside, and threw a black lid to the floor a second later. Her hand fisted in the center of his shirt, and she dropped the plastic vial at their feet.
“What did you do?” He whirled, throwing her hand off his shirt the second their feet touched the floor of his house.
“What did I do?” She huffed, throwing her purse on the couch.
Jonathon reacted. He dove and caught the strap. “Are you insane? The blast!” He snarled, setting the bag safely down on the table.
“Oh, my goddess.” She whispered, her hands covering her lips. “This! This is why I don’t like to cast offensive spells. Never mind hexes!”
Heart thumping in his chest for a million different reasons, Jonathon took a deep breath and slowly blew it out his nose before speaking. “Deidre, what hex did you cast?”
“I blinded them. Well, I hope I blinded them. I just wanted to give us a chance to get out of there because a certain someone took it upon himself to go completely off script!” Green flames flickered across her hands as her anger got the best of her.
“You were going to blind them?” Jonathon took two lumbering steps, closing the distance between them. “After I’d told them cops knew about them?”
“What do you do then, Mister High-and-Mighty?”
“I stole their memories.”
Her jaw fell open. “You what?”
“I cast the only hex that could keep us safe. I made a play, it backfired. I fixed it.”
“Fixed it?” Deidre damn near shrieked as she threw her hands up in the air. “Without their memories, they could destroy one another!”
“Would that be so terrible?” he whispered, catching both her hands around the wrist with one of his. “Would it be awful if a pair of black-magic dealing assholes were off the street?” His lip twitched in disgust. “If I saved countless unknowing victims of purchased attacks like the one cast on us?” His chest heaved as anger tore through him. “You can’t judge me for that, Deidre.” His pulse quickened, not with the fury rolling through him, but with the sudden urge to kiss her. To slant his mouth over his and see what would happen if he moved first. If he set in motion, the near lust-like desired he’d felt every moment since being hexed with her.
Her eyes widened, the pupils dilating as her mouth formed an o-shape. Her breathing hitched as he rubbed his thumb over her hand, gently caressing the soft skin.
One deliberate movement, and he’d kiss her.
“We’re on our own,” Deidre spoke, breaking the spell pulling him closer to her.
Shaking his head, Jonathon leaned back, fighting off the momentary haze of attraction. This is the hex. You’re tied together. Your emotions can’t be trusted.
“Deidre?”
She gave a small shake of her head as if she knew what he would ask.
“It’s the hex.” She offered up. “It’s like the marriage bond, I suppose.”
“So, you feel it too?” He let her hands go. “Even for someone like me?”
She scoffed. “I don’t want that means, but yes, Jonathon. I want exactly what you want. Or what almost happened. I’ve been going mad since we got back to your place last week. I thought it was circumstances, but now I know it’s the hex.”
He cleared his throat. “And one doesn’t act on emotions brought out or tied to a hex.”
Deidre nodded in agreement. “You’re wonderful, Jonathon, but I’m not looking for anything serious.”
“I didn’t say a word about serious.”
She flushed. “Something tells me getting involved with a man like you couldn’t be anything but serious.”
He didn’t know if the anger he felt was at Deidre or the hex for messing with his head.
“For the record, I’m not looking for involvement. I want to advance and get the hell out of dodge. I want to go back home. That doesn’t leave time for women – serious or otherwise.”
“Noted.” If she’d been a snake, the venom in her bite would have killed him.
“I didn’t mean –”
She held up her hand. “It doesn’t matter. We know we’re dealing with a shifter. A shifter that can fly or swim.”
“Sharks are out.”
Her lips quirked up into a grin. “Great minds think alike.”
“So, let’s start with the birds.”
“No,” Deidre spoke calmly. “A bird cannot fly in a hurricane.”
“So, the gators.”
He remembered how upset the alpha was.
“No. I know the alpha leader. The murder at the cemetery devastated him, but he holds his people accountable for their actions the same way Elijah does. He wouldn’t do this.”
“When did you meet the gator alpha?” Despite being out in the open, the species tended to stick with their own kind. It wasn’t racist, but merely how they’d survived for centuries.
She scrunched her mouth up to her lip, looking like she’d just eaten an intense lime. “I can’t remember, but I have. I saw him after the attack on the weregator, too.”
“Why haven’t you mentioned this before?”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t seem relevant. A man I’ve met couldn’t kidnap me?”
“Seriously?” He arched a brow. “Have you no clue how many times a person is taken by someone they know?”
She waved her hand in the air, brushing him off. “It’s not Remy. The gators live in the bayou, and most work out there. They wouldn’t have the funds to put something this extensive together.”
Jonathon couldn’t discredit that. “Then, where do we start?”
Deidre’s phone ringer cracked through the apartment. She said nothing as she turned and grabbed it from her purse, grabbing the black bottle out and set
ting in on the coffee table even as she answered.
“Lita, are you okay?” Her face went white with worry.
Jonathon couldn’t hear Lita’s response, but the color came back to Deidre’s face.
“What am I doing now?” She glanced at him. “I’m on a date.”
He almost snorted but didn’t want to piss the woman off.
“We’re a bit too busy to come over.”
“Tell her it’s me. Just tell her and let her squeal and leave us alone.” He didn’t mean to rush her.
“Lita, I’m with Jonathon. I’m seeing Jonathon.”
That time, Jonathon heard the giant squeal as it reached through the phone and slapped into his ears.
Deidre actually chuckled. “I’m glad you’re happy. Look, it’s nothing big or serious. We just realized we liked spending time together.” Truth. “If it turns into anything big, you’ll know.” Pause. “Okay, bye, Lita.”
“She bought it?”
“Far too easily. Now, where were we?”
His stomach growled as loud as any werewolf. “Apparently about to get some food. Take out?”
“Gumbo Shop.”
He grabbed out his phone and punched in the address. “You buy, I’ll – ” he frowned. “Stuck Together.” He sighed.
“Dinner’s on me if you promise me one thing.” Deidre grabbed her purse. “No more talk about this. I don’t know how Lita and Ivy survived. I’m drowning, and if we keep going, I might never get my head above water.”
Jonathon didn’t want to slow down. He wanted to speed up.
But she’s not you. Not every person runs on fumes.
“Deal.”
“Okay then, good old-fashioned hearty gumbo and a movie coming up.”
“I didn’t agree to a movie.”
She laughed. “Too bad you have to go where I go. I need to decompress, and he can’t control us to cast anything if we aren’t near our homes.”
“Have I told you how brilliant you are?”
“Nope, but I’ll take this as step one.” She twisted her hand, and the door opened. “After you.”
Thirteen
“Another Monday,” Deidre sighed and put her phone back on the nightstand. Seven in the morning. Not her ideal wake up time, but an hour late wasn’t the end of the world. No, that’s what they hurricane will do.
Deidre snorted.
Unfortunately, she’d spent the last week doing nothing but running around the Quarter with Jonathon, talking to anyone and everyone he thought could help.
Long days trucking through the city in summer meant for early nights with a glass of rosé. Some nights she retreated to the room, becoming far too much like a home, and other nights she stayed on the couch and watched something with Jonathon.
Regardless, each day only seemed to strengthen her attraction to him. He was so much more than a stoic young cop ready to take on the world.
He loved to eat southern food. It was, in fact, the only time he ever had anything nice to say about New Orleans as it compared to New York. Johnathon tended to let out a small hum when he enjoyed something. Though he denied it when she brought it up, a simple video proved him wrong.
Despite not having a pet, he was a dog person. Every animal they passed got a pet and a little bit of baby talk from the straight-laced cop. He liked to unwind with a glass of rum on occasion – the exact opposite of the bourbon man she took him for. When he thought she wasn’t looking, he’d stare at her, as if analyzing her.
If she’d met him under different circumstances and he’d asked to buy her a drink, Deidre would accept based on his dark good looks alone. She would have ended up his bed thanks to the personality he worked hard to hide.
But you didn’t. Sure, you thought he was good looking all along, but a hex did this to you. A hex has made you lie awake before bed the last few nights wondering if it wouldn’t be an awful idea to slip into his room under the covers.
Deidre let out a groan. When the hex was over, she was getting laid and moving past this ridiculous binding. Twice, Lita insisted Deidre come over and listen about baby things. Once Ivy suggested Deidre consider taking over as Council Elect but to meet about it over coffee. Of course, she’d been unable to go to either. She couldn’t explain Jonathon’s presence. Dating or not, it he was suddenly everywhere she was, they’d start to ask questions – and not the typical human questions like “are you pregnant.” No, they would ask if they were hexed. If they’d performed a spell wrong. If they’d dropped a potion somewhere.
Groaning again, Deidre winced as the alarm pierced the Tuesday morning quiet. Fumbling to find the phone without lifting her head, Deidre knocked it to the floor, sending it sliding across the wood planks as the alarm continue to clamor away, sounding like the introduction to a circus act.
“You okay?” The door swung inward. “I heard a thud like you fell out of bed?” Jonathon held a toothbrush in one hand and his white button-down hung open, showcasing abs Deidre still thought begged to be touched – or even licked. A dusting of dark hair seemed to peek up from behind the waistband of his jeans.
Deidre closed her eyes, but the image was burned into her brain. Right down to the adorable way his mouth was full of toothpaste.
“I’m fine.” Or I will be as soon as you button your shirt so I can focus.
“Good. We can’t risk not making it to the meeting. I don’t know why nothing has happened in just over a week, but I’ll bet our time is running short. August is ending, and September is never terribly busy for hurricanes – even here.”
There was the business-only cop she’d met last fall. “Thanks for checking on me. Even if it was only to ensure we didn’t miss the meeting.” She threw the covers off, forgetting she’d slept in nothing more than a tank top and lace boy shorts.
“Green really is your color.” His eyes gazed into hers even as the playful smirk slipped into place. A smirk she’d noticed he reserved only for her.
A younger version of herself would have flushed. Deidre was confident in her body, and more than a few men had seen it. At this age, she merely played it coy.
“Thanks.” She winked. “Not too bad yourself there.” She gestured toward the open shirt.
Like her, Jonathon didn’t flinch at being caught. “I don’t just workout because I like to.” He started to button the shirt, his eyes staying trained on her. “We need to get moving. Meetings in two hours, and it’ll take at least one to walk there. We need to stretch our legs and skip the transport potion.”
“One and a half … I want breakfast.” She grumbled, tugging open the closet door. “Do you think it will be lonely when this is all done?” Running her hands over the few things she brought, Deidre pulled out a black shift dress.
“When we’re able to be more than a few hundred feet apart, you mean?”
“Yes, that.” She tugged the dress over her head, smoothing it out around her hips and then pulled the bit of green lace from her tank top over the neckline. “Ready for a walk?”
“I can’t believe you just paid to park.” Deidre shook her head as Jonathon jogged to meet up with her.
“I will not take the work car places that isn’t for work.”
She rolled her eyes. In more ways than one, Jonathon often acted like a grumpy old man.
“The meeting isn’t work?” They strolled out of the parking garage and turned left to head toward the meeting on Royal.
“It’s not. I’m not reporting it as a cop but as a warlock. Besides, what we’re doing can’t be traced back to anything or people will start to wonder.”
“And wonder leads to us accidentally killing them if they force us to talk.”
“Exactly.”
Deidre already knew a subtle sheen of sweat formed inside the dress at her armpits and under her breasts – which were secured in a tank top, not a bra. New Orleans was beautiful, but utterly miserable during the summer. “You really think this is will be safe?”
Jonathon didn’t bother to glance at
her but kept his eyes on a pair of men arguing just loud enough for them to hear across the street. It wasn’t an interesting argument, but he seemed almost worried a confrontation would start, walking between Deidre and the men.
“I think we’ve exhausted our options. Alone, we don’t stand a chance. We can’t force any shifter to talk to us, and if we dump a truth potion on them, we’ll be arrested for magic without permission. We’ve narrowed our list down. We need to get help from the Council to tell us what the police records can’t.”
“You mean what the angel and demon can’t.”
“Are you seriously still on me about something from last week?”
“My life is one giant holding pattern. Yes, I’m still annoyed. We could have silenced them.”
“Not quickly enough. I won’t risk going back there and triggering a break in the hex either. And since you’re stuck by my side, I know you won’t either.”
“Arrogant son of a bitch,” Deidre muttered under breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.” She crossed, grabbed onto her purse strap with her right hand, and clenched her left fist. Definitely the hex. There’s no way I could be attracted to someone as infuriating as him. Never.
Deidre didn’t like alpha males, and while Jonathon wasn’t exactly alpha, it was certainly his way or the highway if you couldn’t convince him otherwise in less than a minute.
“Look, I know this isn’t ideal. I’m more than a little worried about bringing this before the Council. Patrick doesn’t like not knowing things – I blame being stuck inside whatever time magic was cast eight years ago. This endangers everyone, but we either need permission or proof.”
“Proof.” Deidre sighed and fell into step with Jonathon.
Typically, the quiet silence that settled over them didn’t bother her. Today it was heavy, like a shroud around her shoulders. Because you know what’s coming. You know you’re about to move one step closer to finding the asshole who hexed you, or ten steps back by getting the Council Elects killed.