by Heather Long
“I don’t want to bite and claw you.” Liar.
“Liar,” he echoed my thought as I paced away.
“Let’s get back to the real issue.”
Joining me, Grady’s arm brushed mine as we stared out the open door. The house fixed everything—except itself. “It makes food, it heats the water, keeps the fire going, and cleans our clothes…why doesn’t it repair itself?”
“Improperly coded spell?” What did I know? I didn’t build magical programs. Programs. “Our showgirl-slash-witness-slash-miracle worker—what if she’s all of those things?”
All business, Grady circled to face me, and his expression sobered. “I’m listening.”
“Cyrus sent me to get a witness who is due to testify. She’s turning evidence for the state—probably senior councilors against the casino she worked in. Now, Cyrus never really tells us who is paying the bonds.”
Folding his arms, Grady nodded. “He likes to keep it all to himself.”
“Right, so she works for the casino, and showgirl is a pretty much dismissed position. What do they do? Wear flashy outfits and shake their ta-tas?”
“Says the witch who doesn’t admire a well-formed body and the talent it takes to shake those ta-tas and asses in outfits and headpieces which can weigh up to fifty pounds.”
Really? “Not going to ask how you know that.”
“I’m an open book.”
Uh huh. “My point was,” I said dragging us back on topic. “If you tell us we’re hunting a showgirl, are we really looking for someone with badass magic?”
Lips pursed, Grady tilted his head to the side. “No.”
“No. So maybe this…” I swirled my finger around. “This is what she stole. Her earring came from here. The wisps found it—after Karma found this place. So, she was here. Maybe this is her stash pad. Which is great, because it means she’ll come back.” Or not so great, if she dumped it and took off. This was really hot magic. That would be safer to not run around another realm with it. Of course, it didn’t explain Karma bailing on me, or why Grady’s team hadn’t come to find him…
“About that,” Grady said, clearing his throat. The cocky confidence he wore faded. “The earring…might not have been left here by…”
Clenching my fists, I blew out a breath between my teeth. “Nihil, ūnus, duo, trēs, quattuor, quīnque, sex…”
“Sex?” The familiar smirk returned, only the disbelief in his gaze didn’t quite match it.
“I’m counting in Latin.”
“Oookay…do I want to know why?”
Lightning sparked along my fingertips. The electricity skated through my system and flickered at the edges of my vision. Hair raised all over my body. “You set me up.”
“Yes.” The immediate honesty in his answer tempered my anger. “In my defense, we weren’t allies then.”
“And you waited three days to tell me.”
“Also true.” His smile faltered. “In part because I forgot and I didn’t really think it had any bearing on the spell.”
Both sounded valid. I could continue to be pissed or I could do something about it. “Any other details you might have forgotten?”
“In the interests of our new partnership?”
“Why not. In the interest of our new partnership.” Keeping a lid on my need to lash out took effort, but I needed to think my way out of our problem. Fury never solved anything.
“My guys had a bead on Floosey in town. I told them to stick with her, bag her while I distracted you.” Was that sheepish note in his voice? “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry—and I’m totally going to take those two to the cleaners. They should have come looking when I didn’t show up.” The corners of his mouth turned down, and his gaze went distant. “Crap.”
“Let me guess, they likely assumed you bagged and tagged me, and they wouldn’t dream of bothering you.”
If my aggravation wasn’t already an issue, the stricken look on his face might have amused me. “Yeah. We’re still in the same boat. Stuck here until we can figure out how to break through the spell.”
I must be unraveling, because I believed him and the last dregs of my rage drained away. Massaging my temples, I paced. Movement helped me think.
Wait.
Unraveling…
“You have an idea.” Grady clapped his hands together. “Hit me with it.”
Well, since he asked so nicely…
Grady
I’m not weird. I’m sexily eccentric. – Grady Hammersmith
The wallop of power picked him up and flung him across the room, and pinned him to the shield. The impact knocked the breath out of him. The snap and crackle of sizzling air around him as she held him prone to the interior shield sounded way worse than it felt.
“Do I want to know what you’re doing?” The question seemed appropriate. Madison stood in the center of the room, one hand raised and her hair flowing around her as a breeze circled her.
Wreathed in her own power, she was a dark goddess, clothed in black.
“Unraveling.”
Yeah, that didn’t tell him anything. “Come again?”
“Unraveling.” When her eyes opened, they were pure black and lightning splintered across the darkness. Lust surged through him, a powerful provocation and far surpassing anything he’d ever experienced in her presence.
Grady loved women, and his passion for them was something for which he’d never apologize. No woman he’d ever met could come close to attracting him the way she did in this moment.
Madison, the preternatural bounty hunter, and chosen by the spell-brador—damn she was hot.
“Can I do anything more than be a lightning rod?” Her power cascaded over him, leaping from his fingers to his arms, along his shoulders, and then down his flesh to his abdomen and arcing to his legs. The hum left him elated.
“Shh,” Madison whispered, but whatever she saw while the lightning played in her eyes held her attention. “I need to find the part where they began weaving the spell. I may not be able to build complicated magical constructs, but I know how they make them.”
“Spell weaving.” Damn. “If our little showgirl can do this…” The bond Cyrus would pay them was about to triple. “You think maybe the reason they want her back is she can do this.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time someone with a fine magical gift was co-opted by others.” Damn, her voice dropped an octave into a husky, decadent register.
Enslaved she meant. “I’m not a fan of slavers.”
“Well, then we have that in common.” The spell holding him fast released, and her magic washed away, continuing to electrify the internal shield. The diamond pattern repeated, the symmetry near perfect—then there was a hint of a shadow. A shadow he hadn’t seen anywhere else.
Shivering to shake off the tingling still riddling his spine, he pointed to the corner of the rug. “There.”
Madison twisted to face the same direction and her power concentrated on the rug. The shadow appeared again.
“I’ll be damned…it’s an actual thread.”
“Weaved right into the rug.” They’d tried every other part of the room, including the floors, but they’d rolled up the rug when they’d gone after it.
“Can you undo it?” Rolling his head from side to side, Grady freed some of the tension. If it took brute force magic, he’d pour his into hers, but he also had tools. A thought brought his Smith & Witchin’ to his hand.
Pacing forward to the edge of the rug, she knelt but didn’t answer him. Curious, he followed and dropped to one knee next to her. The breeze around her caressed his skin as it rotated. The electricity danced over her hand as she held it toward the rug.
Bad idea. The knee jerk gut reaction had him grabbing her arm and throwing up a shield a moment before the room imploded around them. The detonation left his eyes dazzled and his ears ringing. Pressure struck his shield like a tidal wave, slamming into with increasing force. Folding himself over Madison, he focused all his wil
l.
He would break before he’d let that shield come down.
A moment later, darkness plunged over him and the world winked out.
…
…
…
“Grady.”
Not right now. He wanted five more minutes.
“Grady.”
C’mon. Just five more minutes.
“Grady, I’m naked.”
His eyes opened and he focused on Madison, leaning over him. Her dark hair a curtain, and the ends of it tickled his flesh. Three things registered immediately—they were alive.
Yay.
He was sore as hell.
Eh.
She was not naked.
Boo.
“Oh, thank the Goddess of Midnight and Morning, I thought you were dead.” The relief in her tone was palpable.
“No such luck, babe. You’re stuck with me.” His reward for honesty?
She punched him in the shoulder.
“Ow.” It took more effort to say the word than it was actually worth.
“You saved me.” There was a hint of amazement in her voice. He wouldn’t be too insulted by it.
“I know. I kind of like you.” Smiling when his toes responded to his need to wiggle, he managed to lift his head and glance around the cabin.
It was all in one piece—even the door.
Relaxing, he half-wanted to hit his head against the floor—maybe a few solid blows would free them from the eternity of the trap. Instead of the wood floor, however, Madison cradled his head in her hand.
“You keep saying that,” she murmured.
What? Wood? Sliding his gaze south, he squinted at his groin. No sign of an erection against his jeans. Good. As delicious as Madison was, he needed a moment. Licking his lips, he didn’t taste any blood. So far, all good news. “What do I keep saying?”
“You keep saying you like me.” Then those dark eyes were above his and a hint of honey filled his nostrils. “When you tackled me away from the detonation, you took whole force of the blast and you kept saying over and over—you wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”
“I need to learn shut up.” Closing his eyes, he fled the temptation of her. He was hurt, and he’d done something heroic. It really flew against the grain.
“Thank you,” she whispered, then her lips caressed his and he forgot how to think, how to breathe, and energy surged through his body. The whomp burst from them and radiated out. Sliding his fingers into her hair, he cupped her head. Then her mouth opened to his and their tongues tangled.
It was all the encouragement he needed. Not that his brain needed a blood supply, not while he held a living lightning bolt in his arms.
A woof interrupted, and Madison broke the kiss. Aww, man…
Turning his head, he stared at Karma gazing at them from the now open door. The spell-brador was half-in, and half-out.
The spell had broken.
“It’s about time you showed up,” Madison growled. “Come help me with big boy here. My partner and I have a showgirl to catch.”
Her partner…oh, me.
Cool.
Epilogue
Madison
We might be having a moment… - Madison the Bounty Hunter
Three days stuck in a cabin in the woods, and not one trace of the spell lingered. Hell, not even the cabin remained. It was some kind of treehouse shack. So weird. Not the weirdest problem we encountered. Karma and I hauled Grady out of the woods and toward town where we encountered his buddies and our bond. Standing a half-dozen feet away, I didn’t make any pretense of not listening to them. Neither of his guys were happy that he planned to split the bond with me.
For her part, the showgirl really didn’t look like much—well, besides beautiful. She’d apparently cleaned up in some poker game—or had, until Karma showed up. The dour looks she kept shooting my spell-brador spoke volumes. Karma, the original poker dog. Too bad I didn’t have a photo of that.
It also explained a lot about the spell on the cabin. The job I’d received. And why I’d ended up trapped with Karma nowhere in sight.
“If you wanted to play, you could have asked.” Even though Karma’s ears twitched in my direction, the spell-brador didn’t take his attention off of the group next to Floosey. “If you wanted to compete in a high-stakes poker game, you could have just let me know.”
Only that wasn’t the only thing Karma had done.
Grady glanced in my direction, and Karma leaned against my leg as he straightened.
“Really?” I stared down at the spell-brador. With soulful eyes, he gazed up at me. “Grady?”
Dropping into a crouch, I ran my hand over Karma’s head. “Are you sure?” I had to know because—new alliance aside—I wasn’t as certain. Spell-bradors were notoriously picky about who they chose, and I’d had Karma my whole life. We’d had each other.
Now he wanted to add a third?
And he wanted it to be Grady?
Karma answered with a slurp to my cheek.
“Ready?” Grady’s voice shivered over me. I’d been too distracted to hear his approach. Glancing up, I found him standing there, looking magnificent and bold. He held out his hand to me. “It’s time for us to go have that conversation with Cyrus.”
Casting another glance at Karma, I took Grady’s hand and let him pull me to my feet. “About that…I think we were both played.”
If it ticked him off, I wouldn’t blame him. But all Grady did was shrug as he continued to hold my hand. “Call me corny, but I think this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership. I’m still in…how about you?”
What about me? Trepidation tightened in my belly. I liked him, but I wasn’t ready for long-term commitment. “How about one job at a time?”
Karma sneezed. Neither of us looked at him.
With the flash of a fast grin, Grady said, “Speaking of jobs…I’ve got a doozy. Every gone after a yeti?”
A yeti?
“I’m in.” The response slipped free, instant. So what that we’d spent three days trapped in a cabin? We were still the same people.
And he was a hell of a kisser.
Karma might have plans, Grady might still have secrets, and I might be hiding an item or two of my own, but one job at a time could work.
Still holding my hand, Grady dipped his head toward mine then pressed his lips to my cheek. “Okay, but since I got a kiss after this job, do I get to second base after we bag the yeti?”
Shoving him away, I laughed then glanced over my shoulder as the portal opened. “Maybe.”
A shriek of power echoed through the cold morning air. I’d recognize the Baba Yaga anywhere.
“Time to go!” We were still laughing and holding hands when we went through.
Our story was hardly over, no…it’s just beginning.
Madison, Grady and Karma will return in The Witch with Madison’s Bounty! And yes, there might be a yeti involved!
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About the Author
USA Today bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She bel
ieves if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.
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Also by Heather Long
Always a Marine Series
Once Her Man, Always Her Man
Retreat Hell! She Just Got Here
Tell It to the Marine
Proud to Serve Her
Her Marine
No Regrets, No Surrender
The Marine Cowboy
The Two and the Proud
A Marine and a Gentleman
Combat Barbie
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
What Part of Marine Don’t You Understand?
A Marine Affair
Marine Ever After
Marine in the Wind
Marine with Benefits
A Marine of Plenty
A Candle for a Marine
Marine under the Mistletoe
Have Yourself a Marine Christmas
Lest Old Marines Be Forgot
Her Marine Bodyguard
Bravo Team Wolf
When Danger Bites
Bitten Under Fire
Boomers
The Judas Contact
Deadly Genesis
Unstoppable
Heroes of Tomorrow
Chance Monroe
Earth Witches Aren’t Easy
Plan Witch from Out of Town
Bad Witch Rising
Elite Metal
Pure Copper (Elite Metal)
Target: Tungsten (Elite Ghosts)
Asset: Arsenic (Elite Elements)
Fevered Hearts
Marshal of Hel Dorado