Hexing the Alpha (Hex My Heart, #1)

by Talina Perkins

  Jake & Honor

  TALINA PERKINS

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  HEXING THE ALPHA

  HEX MY HEART SERIES

  Copyright© 2015 Talina Perkins

  Excerpt from JINXING THE ALPHAS copyright© 2015 Talina Perkins

  WWW.TALINAPERKINS.COM

  Edited by Em Petrova

  Cover Artist: Bookin' It Designs

  eBook ISBN: 9781310845321

  All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the permission in writing from the Author.

  DEDICATION

  Sometimes we all like to break

  the rules and get a little wicked.

  You know who you are,

  this one’s for you!

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Title

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Other Titles

  Jinxing the Alphas Excerpt

  About The Author

  CHAPTER ONE

  “This better work or else we’ll be finding a new place to call home come next month, Cinder.”

  Honor gathered a pinch of crushed lavender and sprinkled in the last of the ingredients needed for her love potion. A puff of purple smoke twined high before diving back into the concoction that would— fingers crossed—work this time and play cupid for a very lonely woman. “Fourth time’s the charm. I hope.” Honor tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and let out a deep sigh.

  She’d promised her client a spell that would convince her boyfriend to take the last plunge toward marriage. Success would net her a cool two grand—enough to save her bar and the attached apartment.

  Getting the spell to work was proving to be more difficult than she’d anticipated. All three previous batches had fizzled out along with her patients.

  If she didn’t get this to work soon it was bye-bye to the only security she had and hello cold streets of Sweet Briar Hollow. Panic sent a cold shudder down her spine and she wiggled her toes nestled inside her favorite warm wool socks. She still had time. Twenty-four hours to be exact. Her gaze fell to her hands as she splayed her fingers out to call forth her magick, searching for a little calm in her own personal hellish storm.

  Encased in the magick-tinged wave of heat that flooded her body came a rush of power laced with memories of the last time she felt so much energy in her palms. Sweet, delicious, mind-blowing, pure masculine strength in the form of the sinfully sexy alpha pressed up against every inch of her body. Goddess, she so did not need this right now.

  An unbeckoned smile spread across her lips. “Stop that, Honor.” She flexed her fingers and forced herself to focus. Had it only been three nights ago that he’d almost taken her? Her core still vibrated with pent-up need for him.

  No, what she needed was to forget him. Forget the way his lips ignited a fire in her belly. Forget the way her body had molded into his embrace. The way his gaze, luminous with a red tinge she didn’t understand, pulled her into his world. Body and soul.

  But more importantly, forget how he’d left her wet and wanting, spread open for him on her bar top with a growled, “Sorry, pack business.”

  Yeah, forgetting one Jake Monroe, alpha shifter, wasn’t likely. She took a calming breath and counted out her heart beats to steady her thoughts.

  The Hollow in the winter was like living in Antarctica, and served as a damn cold bucket of water to her runaway thoughts. In fact, she was pretty sure the below freezing temperatures of her small Maine town rivaled anywhere else on the planet come January and no amount of lusting after Jake would change that for her.

  Honor tossed a look at the clock hanging behind her couch. Almost time to open the bar. She rolled her shoulders and called forth the five elements that fueled her powers, the call of fire her strongest. Heated energy crackled and popped in the small dining room, fusing the air with enough juice to power up ten love potions.

  She needed this to work. Maybe the spell just needed a jump-start. “Worth a shot anyway,” she murmured softly.

  A long drawn out growl from the chair where Cinder lounged watching the whole fiasco punctuated her thoughts. His black and orange patched fur was fluffed and bushy with static. “Hey, not long now and don’t give me that judgy look, buddy. We need the money and this,” she wagged a finger at the bubbling cast iron cauldron on her dining room table, “is the only way I know to get the fast cash we need and to keep kitty nip on the shopping list.”

  Her feline familiar blinked once as a human would shrug his shoulders.

  Sassy pussy. Whatever.

  She needed to get on with this before one –or all—of her three sisters dropped in and found her mixing the forbidden concoction. Not that they would turn her into the Council, but it would definitely put them all in a pickle if ever questioned or placed under a truth spell. Nasty things truth spells, and very commonly used on witches with rebellious pasts.

  She was well-acquainted with the rules governing her kind and right now she was breaking about five of them, which would get her kicked out or worse, stripped of her powers by the Elders. Not cool. But she didn’t see any other choice.

  It wasn’t as if the Council issued loans. So here she was. Solving her own problems if only slightly against her world’s law.

  Before starting, she had flicked the deadbolt in place and stuffed a towel beneath the doors, windows, and every other crack she found in the old apartment to help hide the odor. One of her sisters was bound to stop in for a drink and her efforts would do little in holding them at bay once they smelled the sweet nectar of rose and lavender. If they did show up before she finished... well, she’d rather not think about how many different ways this could go sideways tonight.

  Honor dipped the tip of her pinky into the swirling mass of fuchsia liquid laced with variant shades of midnight purple and popped it into her mouth.

  Much like her favorite Pop Rocks candy, it tingled along her tongue and down her throat as she swallowed the single teardrop worth.

  Mmm. She sucked the single digit between her lips and sighed.

  Dazzling white heat burst to life, singeing her insides to finally detonate in the depths of her core with a powerful need she’d never felt before. She swayed in place and let her eyes slip shut. Just as quickly the all-consuming sensations calmed, leaving behind a blanket of warmth to settle over her entire body like a lover had left her thoroughly sated.

  Would finding release with Jake be that wild and untamed?

  Honor shook her thoughts clear of the sexy alpha.

  “Thank the goddess this actually has a chance!” She pumped a fist in the air and received a swish of a tail from her plump familiar. “Cheer up, Cinder. I think we’re almost there. Just a few final touches.”

  Honor scrolled a finger over the spell she’d penned especially for this task until she came to the last p
art needed to bind the spell to find true love.

  True love. She’d be happy if she could get one devilish sexy shifter to look her way one more time. No love particularly required, but in some ridiculous corner of her mind a roguish shifter to call her own did have a nice ring to it.

  If anything his sapphire eyes and midnight black hair spelled wild lust-filled nights. Her feminine parts quivered just thinking about the broody male that had spent the better part of the last month holding down the back corner table opposite her bar top.

  Damn the goddesses. She knew to the bottom of her soul, they’d had her in mind when they cooked up his wolfish charms and good looks. Her body thrummed every time she felt him track her movements as she tended her customers. His eyes had a way of glowing with an ethereal light every time she glanced his direction. Raw heat is what she saw in their depths and it made her naughty side crave a little dirty romance.

  She couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the why, but when their gazes connected nothing else mattered. For that split second between serving a drink or some other task at hand, everything dropped away and she only saw him, the force of his gaze like the smack of her love potion to her senses and her thoughts of total possession. She just didn’t understand it. Maybe she didn’t need to. Maybe it was leftover feelings from the night they almost shared.

  She didn’t fit under the ranks of saints. She’d had wild nights of hot sex before, but Jake made her feel different. As if what he wanted would be beyond mind-blowing. If only she knew what had sent him hoofing it out of her bar and away from her when they were so close to finally taking their attraction to the next level.

  Did he not feel the same way? If he did, the wolf had a damn good way of hiding it.

  She paused and looked down at her handiwork.

  The potion. It was playing with her emotions and churning up the hottest passions buried in her soul.

  She let out a deep sigh. “Here comes the fun part. Time to nudge destiny a bit.”

  She closed her eyes and dashed thoughts of Jake to the back of her mind where they damn well better stay locked away. With her attention refocused on fusing the potion with her binding powers, Honor interlaced her fingers to form a barrier over the opening of her cauldron and started.

  With this spell I declare

  A single drink to claim a heart so fair

  A perfect match bring forth this night

  With a heart pure in light and a wish for love so true and right

  For the good of all and with free will I cast this spell to do my will

  As I enchant this potion with my words

  So let it be done and that it harms no one

  So mote it be

  Flashes of purple and magick-laced fire brought her eyes open. A single flame spiraled up from the liquid, then absorbed back into the confines of the pot to shimmer with her infused power.

  Done.

  “Now if only by the goddesses it works...”

  From the shelf above her refrigerator, Honor snagged a silver container she normally reserved for the homemade liquor the other locals preferred. Shifters burned through what she had on tap so she cooked up her own brew that kept her doors open. Barely. Her illegal love hooch would keep her in the black for now, but for how long? She couldn’t sell enough of the regular booze to the locals and stay afloat. Her only hope now was her ability to attract more shifters with her special brew of Moon Lust.

  She measured three servings of the love potion into the container, then sealed the bottle. She placed the canister on the table by the front door and turned to the mirror to straighten out her hair from the messy bun she sported, planning her next move... delivery and payment.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Ten minutes later Honor joined her minimal staff downstairs, ready to kick off another rowdy Saturday with the first of the night’s drinkers already swiging back one form of elixir or another to fight the harsh cold.

  “Hey, Ryan, pour a pitcher for table three and let’s tap another keg.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  Humans loved visiting The Matchstick for a fix of hard liquor and beer like the weres loved their witch-brewed New England moonshine. She made a mental note to order in new stock for the coming holidays and brew up a few more batches of her personal concoction.

  Honor left the instructions with her bartender and walked over to a quiet corner out of earshot of everyone.

  From memory she dialed her client, who picked up after two rings.

  “Tell me you have it ready, Honor,” answered a nervous voice through the earpiece.

  Honor’s heart swelled for the woman on the other end. She was so desperate for love she’d try anything. It’s why she’d agreed to help out with the love potion. If only her sisters would see it her way, she could have delivered and collected days ago.

  Honor traced the soft edges of a napkin, her back to the crowd forming around the bar. “Hey, Marabelle. The potion is ready. When would you like to meet for delivery?”

  “Right now if you can. I don’t want to waste another minute if you know what I mean.”

  Honor rolled her eyes and smothered a chuckle at her client’s innuendo. She hoped the poor man on the other end of the spell could handle the lust-filled night Marabelle had in mind for them.

  “The sooner the better. How about in an hour? My place? Yours? A la clandestine, I presume?” she added in a low whisper. Humans understood how her Council’s law worked, which helped to explain why the forbidden brew came with a hefty price tag.

  Before she could respond, Honor’s magick shimmered the length of her spine and instinct stiffened her muscles. “Your place works fine. See you then, Marabelle.”

  Snapping her phone closed, she whirled on her heel, expecting to find one of her sisters. Instead, chiseled muscles defined by outdoor labor and encased in black cotton came into view. She traced a path first down to see solid thighs covered in the sexiest fucking black jeans she’d ever seen on a man and up to find a gorgeous set of dark blue eyes staring down at her.

  “Getting into trouble again?” he drawled, his rough baritone doing wicked things to her cool composure.

  That was on the outside. On the inside two emotions warred for control. Fear of what he might have overheard with his heightened hearing. And nerve-searing, thigh-clenching lust.

  Lust was winning by a mile.

  He anchored his hands on two wooden chairs on either side of him and breathed in deeply then released on a long sigh. “Honor.”

  Why did he have to say her name as if he’d just made love with her?

  Jake—the werewolf shifter that starred in all her fantasies— stood so close she could reach out and touch any part of her fantasy she wished.

  He must have sensed the turn her dirty mind had taken because his pupils dilated and the rims of his irises brightened with an otherworldly glow in a color she could only describe as a mixture of sapphire with shards of ruby. The contrast just as striking as the man. She’d seen his eyes like that once before, but hadn’t gotten to ask what it meant.

  “Why the two colors again?”

  “What?” He straightened, letting his hands fall to his side.

  It was just like her to blurt whatever decided to stomp through her mind before she had a chance to filter her thoughts. Her question caused his brows to pinch together and he took a half step back from her.

  “Your eyes. Why are they glowing two colors? They’re beautiful.”

  She inched closer, forcing him to bump into a neighboring patron’s table. He threw out a hand to steady it before he answered. “It’s nothing. Just a little tired.”

  She reached to settle her calming touch on his shoulder, but he jerked back before she could make contact.

  Ouch. She lowered her hand to her side and swallowed the hurt.

  Fine. She knew lines when she crossed them and she had no intentions of crossing any more lines with the alpha.

  Honor went to sidestep the man and leave him to
his corner before she embarrassed herself anymore, but was brought up short with his hand over hers.

  With a sigh, she angled her head to the side and asked, “What can I get you this evening, Mr. Monroe?” Her eyes trained on the man who oozed her brand of sexiness and brought Color Me Bad’s I Wanna Sex You Up to mind on constant replay in her head. She quickly looked away, scanning her bar instead.

  “Look at me, Honor.” He leaned in, taking up all the space in front of her, the tip of his nose almost touching hers, demanding her attention. Her heart tripped along, quickening her breath.

  Standing with her phone in one hand, her other in his, she did as he asked.

  “I’m sorry.” He ran his free hand through his tousled shoulder-length hair in frustration. “It’s hard to explain.” His gaze roamed over the half-filled bar before returning to meet hers. “But Honor,” his voice pitched low as though he only wanted her to hear what he was about to say and his dual-toned gaze locked on hers. “Never call me Mr. Monroe again unless you want me to do unspeakable things to you that would leave you blushing come morning.”

  Was that a promise or a threat? Both sounded exciting. Before he released her hand, he traced his fingertips along the tender flesh of her palm.

  A rush of sassy comebacks flitted across her mind, but she swallowed them back and settled with the truth. “We tried that, remember?”

  Still, temptation rode her hard to accept the challenge he’d dangled like bait between them. A craving unlike any she’d felt before consumed her and all she could think about was pressing her lips to his. And that was just for starters.

  She inhaled the warm scent of a male who preferred the outdoors to city life. Pine and soap with a hint of aftershave that stroked a woman’s libido to smoldering. Flames blasted her core and rocked her to the verge of blowing her stopper. Whoa. What the hell?

  Honor’s cheeks flushed along with everything else. The potion. It had to be. But she’d only swallowed a drop. Tonight she’d be having a little personal time with her new vibrator and would remember his intoxicating smell and how good it felt to be this close to him.