Read the next segment in the Curse Worker series.
Sanguine Shadows
Map of Bones
Malediction
Arcane
Hex (coming soon)
Turn the page to read a taste from Arcane, Book Three in the Curse Workers series!
A taste from Arcane
She’s done with men. But someone needs to tell her wolf.
When Laurel’s Alpha female is found murdered and her Alpha turns up missing, the Briarwood Pack is turned upside down. An unwanted blast from Laurel’s romantic past puts her to the test as the fine line between love and hate is redefined. If she can keep herself alive. Love can be murder…unless it saves your life.
Nerdy, hunky boys with a knack for the dead need love too…
With his roommate back from the dead and his future as Montelier Supernatural Academy's new necromancer on staff on hold after his mentor’s murder, James Merryweather finds himself looking for answers in the one place he never thought to find them. And when a chance encounter leads him to his heart’s desire, will he have the strength to claim the woman he loves before she’s ripped from his arms forever?
Prologue
The crowded streets of Salem a few weeks before Halloween
“Blixana. You shouldn’t be out here. What if someone sees you?” Esmay, her brownie watchdog tugged at the sleeve of her shirt.
Frustrated and in no mood to listen to the lesser fae, Blix marched out past the boundaries of the old churchyard and found herself in a world of mortal enchantment. She’d observed for far too long and tonight she was going to taste everything. Nothing in Faerie could ever compare to the bustle and sheer humanity of the sights in front of her.
The streets were chock full of people, mostly on foot. Human women dressed in a combination of riotous colors and black, some sporting broomsticks and others giant gourd like creations with faces. Men dressed in black walked along, their eyes caressing the women next to them, no doubt in anticipation of what else the night had to offer behind the thrall of closed doors.
The scent of baking and sugary snacks sent her mouth watering. And the loud raucous laughter from a place called The Copper Kettle beckoned her the loudest. What did these humans have that drew so many inside? Was their ale as good as the Summer Meade in Faery? No doubt it was better. More earthy.
She ran a hand down the denim fabric she’d seen the humans wear and a thin top that still let the chill of the October winds dance along her skin. She would have to return before the Dark Queen found her missing. But for a little while she could wander in a world where what you saw was very often what you got. It was not so in Faerie.
“Get back here. Do you want the Fenris to see you?” Esmay hissed. “He’s the guardian of the Gate. Did you not think he would notice you slipping through?”
Blix locked her jaw and turned to face the little tattletale. “Go ahead, Esmay. You tell him. All I wanted was to come across before it got locked down for Samhain.”
Esmay let go of her and crossed her arms over her chest, looking up at her with a belligerent expression. “If you go out there, I can’t protect you from the wolves. Or anything else that comes prowling.”
“You won’t need to,” she scoffed. “Now go. I’ll be back soon enough. I’ll even bring you back a sweet.”
The greedy brownie’s eyes glittered in the dark as Blixana stared down at her. Esmay was already caving in; she could read it in her eyes. The promise of sweets always won, whether it was back home or sneaking a treat from a trespassing human on a picnic in their churchyard. Her mother served in the Dark Court, as did Blixana’s and they both knew their way to enjoy a moment or two without the intrusive eyes of the Court watching. Thus far they’d only gone through to visit the Gate protected churchyard, but as in everything else, Blix was given an inch but preferred to take a mile.
“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Boundaries for a reason. Pix addled pixie. Going to get killed. See if I care.” The brownie stomped off, leaving Blix to her own devices.
Where should she go first? No human money graced her pockets, but she didn’t need it. A simple turn of the wrist and a light step made anything she wanted ripe for the taking. Her slippered feet rested on the concrete sidewalk and she frowned, taking in the footwear of the passersby.
With a wink and a nod, she glamoured the slippers into black boots, rocking back and forth on the two inch heels, marveling at how they felt on her feet.
Striding forward, she brushed a strand of hair out of her face and let herself be absorbed into the crowd. With the costumed folk all around her, no one would notice her differences, but all the same, she made sure the pointy tips of her ears were hidden beneath her hair.
She’d gotten half a block when she felt the chill breeze of Other at her heels. Scuttling forward on the new boots, she scurried deeper into the fray of partygoers.
What could be trailing her? A nymph perhaps? Or even a sprite? They both loved the thrill of adventure and chomped at the bit to delve into the human world.
Or was it a selkie, easy to transform into human form and then back into the body of a seal? She turned her head upward, letting her senses run wild but she couldn’t tell in the crush of people.
“Damned brownie. Probably ratted me out already.” She spotted a tavern up ahead. The Copper Kettle. A smile turning up her lips, she darted forward, only to be yanked back by a fist in her hair.
“Going somewhere, pixie?”
She collapsed to the ground, two large men standing over her, the moon shining in their eyes.
Wolves.
A shiver tore through her. She’d heard tell of their ferociousness but had never seen them before. But still not as deadly as a sidhe warrior could be. How could they be? Mayhap she could outrun them and make it back to her churchyard. She scrambled up, only making it a few feet in an alley right next to the pub before they downed her a second time. A well placed boot had her sprawling out amidst the damp grass and discarded beer cans and cups.
“What…what do you want?”
“You broke the treaty. Fae don’t belong here.”
She blinked, her mouth gaping open like a fish. That was supposed to be an old wives tale. No one but Fenris guarded the Gate.
“Please. Let me go.”
“I don’t think so, little fae.” The larger of the two knelt down, his teeth much too sharp in his mouth.
Then he smiled. Blix started to scream, lashing the wolves with a dose of pixie dust, the only curse she knew thrown in for good measure. Fang and claw were the only truths she knew as they tore at her flesh.
“Get off me!” She doused them with an inconsequential burst of pixie dust to no avail.
Battered and bruised, she fought and struggled to remember the vibrant colors of Faery, instead of pain and the greasy beer smell of the mortal plane. Esmay was right. She had been a fool, but she was not yet without a parting gift for her attackers. One more spell. One more burst of power from the deepest parts of her. The only spell she’d ever read from her grandmother’s book of the arcane.
As she slipped from the world, sight leaving her eyes, she smiled as the gleam of crimson found its way into the eyes of the now cursed wolves and surrendered freely to the welcoming darkness.
Chapter One
Bespelled Bookstore a few days before Halloween
Laurel wrapped her hand around the handle of a small wire cart of books and pushed it forward toward the display of shifter romances and sighed.
“Shifting Mr. Right. Yeah. Sure.”
“What?” Her co-worker Bryce glanced up from unpacking a box of magazines with a questioning look.
“Nothing,” she muttered in response. Continuing on her way toward the table, she sighed.
Now there was a stupid title if she’d ever heard one. She picked up the mass market paperbacks and added them to the stack of bare-chested, hunky man covers and rolled her eyes. Normally she loved putting out the new release romances, but to
day her mind was occupied by events at the house. Duncan, the Alpha, was still missing and Alistair was torn between pack duties to the community in his stead and his job as second, which left a good many things in her lap.
She flicked her wrist and checked the time, wishing the last two hours of her shift would go faster. Laurel loved her job at the small bookstore most days. In fact, she was grateful for the chance to escape the pack politics and just play with books all day. But today, time was crawling and the amount of things on her plate just kept growing and growing.
Her boss Evelyn wandered by, a stack of hardcovers for the front table in her arms. “You doing okay, Laurel?”
“Yeah. Almost done with these.” She frowned. Bringing her problems to work wasn’t how she rolled but with the lack of sleep last night from restraining yet another fevered wolf in the containment room in Briarwood’s basement, she was longing for a cup of tea and a moment to get her proverbial shit together.
The front door jingled and she opened her mouth to greet the customer when her eyes locked with sexy and exceedingly annoying James Merryweather. Dressed in his typical jeans, boots and suit jacket, she couldn’t help but notice the tee shirt accentuating every muscle and the way his jeans just happened to hug his toned thighs.
God, the guy was still hot.
It was a shame he was an asshole.
“Damn,” she whispered and lowered her head. This was all she needed today with her temper on such a short fuse. Her wolf woke up and stretched, plucking away at her one word mantra whenever James Merryweather was concerned.
Mate.
Oh hell no.
That she wasn’t going to listen to, even if her hormones and her wolfy counterpart demanded otherwise. All that had done was get her into fifty shades of trouble and heartache and she’d promised her teenage self that she would never, ever date the son of a bitch ever again.
Except…
James Merryweather was lickable. Oh yes. But so was one of those weird suckers at the liquor store with the worm inside. It was tasty until you got down and dirty and then it fucked you up but good.
Been there. Done that. Not her first rodeo with a guy that probably had a belt full of notches, despite the nerd-esque glasses.
She remembered what it had been like to pull them off his face and sink into a kiss with those luscious man lips. And the way his hard length had pressed up against her in the shadows of the school hallway.
“I want you…” he’d breathed into her ear.
Her heart had pounded in her chest and in her virginal panic, a fine sheen of hair had sprouted along her arms and her face.
She’d wrenched herself out of his embrace with a cry and ran only to have him ditch her with no explanation when she’d agreed to go to the dance with him.
Bastard.
“Good afternoon, Laurel.” He proceeded on his way heading straight the newsstand and she clenched her teeth with frustration.
How many times was he going to come in here and annoy her? She hadn’t talked to him since she’d graduated Montelier but now since she’d taken a part time job at Bespelled, he was nearly always underfoot.
And he kept asking her out.
Dinner.
Coffee.
Movies.
She said no every time.
Maybe she should say yes and see what he did.
She wasn’t about to take a chance and be embarrassed again. To even consider doing so was just stupid. He’d made an already horrible year at high school incredibly awful with the jokes and whispers at her expense. Why the hell would he even try to pick things up where he left it?
Right in a steaming pile of shit. And she wasn’t going to step in that one again. No sir. Her gaze followed him as he selected a few books from a promotional display and made his way back toward the front of the store.
Evelyn waved him up to the register and checked him out. He paid for his purchases, his eyes wandering, finally centering on her.
“Would you care to go for coffee?”
“No.” Her reply was just as stiff and frosty as it had been the last time, but instead of taking the hint, his lips curved into a smile and his eyes burned with a sensual flame that made her knees lock and the blood race in her veins.
Her wolf piped up, scratching beneath her skin.
Mate.
Shut. Up.
“Some other time then.” He turned, whistling a tune as he stepped through the door and out into the brisk autumn afternoon.
And damned if she didn’t gravitate toward the window to watch him go, her wolf giving her an inglorious snort as she circled and lay back down, waiting for the chance to prove to her human side that she was right.
Laurel just hoped she could be strong enough to resist.
Find Arcane at your online retailer and continue with the Curse Workers series.
Each book can also be read standalone!
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Also By Erzabet Bishop
Born of Hellfire Series
Coming Soon!
Silver Moon Supernatural Dating Agency Series
Coming soon!
Shifting Hearts Dating Agency Series
Hedging Her Bets
Waking Up Wolf
Kitten Around
Shifting Hearts Dating Agency Collection Books 1-3
Shifting Hearts Dating App Series
Mistle Tie Me: A Shapeshifter Holiday Romance
Your Wolfish Heart: A Valentine's Day Novella
Chocolate Moon Cafe
Bear It All
Outfoxing Her Mate
My Wicked Mates Series
Craving Her Mates
Surrendering to Her Mate
Tormenting Her Mate
My Wicked Mates Series Collection: Books 1-3
Westmore Wolves Series
Wicked for You
Heart’s Protector
Burning for You
Taming the Beast
Mistletoe Kisses
Westmore Wolves Collection, Books 1-5
Curse Workers Series
Sanguine Shadows
Map of Bones
(free with newsletter subscription)
Malediction
Arcane
Curse Workers Collection: Books 1-3
Hex : coming soon
The Witching Hour Series
Burning Midnight
The Gibbous Moon Series
Bound in Fire
Sigil Fire Series
Sigil Fire
Written on Skin
Glitter Lust
First Christmas: A Sigil Fire Holiday Romance
The Violet Hour: coming soon
Collections and Anthologies
Holidays and More:
A Lesfic Short Story Collection
Lesfic Tales:
A Lesfic Short Story Collection
Sapphic Holiday Cruise:
A Lesbian Holiday Collection
Sweet Sensations:
A Short Story Anthology
Sinful Sweets Series
The Gingerbread Man: A Holiday Romance
Sugar Cookie: A Springtime Romance
Root Workers Series
Bayou Shadows: coming soon
Standalone Novels
Snow: A Shapeshifter Paranormal Reverse Harem Romance
About Erzabet Bishop
Erzabet Bishop is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning
author of over forty paranormal and contemporary romance books. She lives in Houston, Texas, and when she isn’t writing about sexy shifters or voluptuous heroines, she enjoys playing in local bookstores and watching movies with her husband and furry kids.
A Modern Day Witch Hunt by Gina Kincade & Kiki Howell
A Modern Day Witch Hunt
Second Edition
ISBN: 978-1-926514-87-1
978-1-926514-73-4
Copyright ©2016
Kiki Howell & Gina Kincade
Naughty Nights Press LLC
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this ebook are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.
Sale of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If this book is coverless, it may have been reported to the publisher as "unsold or destroyed" and neither the author nor the publisher may have received payment for it.
No part of this book may be adapted, stored, copied, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A Cursed All Hallows' Eve Page 151