Page 16 of Signed in Incubus

“No worries. I’d be, too, if I were you. Your parents don’t have the best track record when it comes to hiring people to snoop on you. Remember they bugged our room after the whole we’re-a-gang thing?”

“I remember. They thought we were smoking weed.”

It hadn’t been weed. We’d been growing magic mushrooms. But even if my dad had shown up, all he’d have found would have been a few bags of “rotting” Uncle Ben’s rice we’d inoculated with spores.

“It was fun discussing our plans to help you run away to a nunnery. Can’t believe they bought it.”

I chortled, remembering it like it was yesterday. Lily had always been good with technology and had recognized the recording devices immediately, so we’d had a bit of fun.

Good times. Our little coven of three.

Gigi and Lily were the reasons I found out about my magical powers to begin with. The two witches had seen the magic in me the moment I walked in.

“Since I’m making it official that I’m striking out on my own, there’s a few things I have to do ASAP.”

Mainly, I needed to get my financial affairs in order. I still had some money left in the joint account. I’d been moving over chunks of cash for years, just a little at a time so they wouldn’t get suspicious. But there was still a fair amount in there. Now that I’d made up my mind, it was time to yank it out.

Travis and I had spoken with a financial advisor before the wedding, and she’d explained that while I couldn’t take my dad’s name off my account, I could request a bank draft for most of the funds and transfer it to another account without his signature. That had been the plan for after the wedding. Travis hadn’t liked my parents’ meddling either.

It was laughable that I spent my workday evaluating financial and investment information for corporate clients, but I had to ask about basic things when it came to my own account, like whether I would be able to take out large amounts from it without alerting my parents. The advisor had said I could then remove my name from it so that I wasn’t on the hook for anything that happened to it later.

It was chilling to realize that my family could have done the same to me at any time and taken all the money I’d saved from my job.

“I am going to get all my financials sorted out before my parents freeze my accounts and send someone to kick me out of the house. Do you know a reliable body shop in town that would be able to check my car for bugs or tracking devices?”

“Not off the top of my head, but I’ll ask around.”

“Thanks.”

“And if you want to move your things into my place for now, feel free to crash in my spare room.”

“You’re the best, Gigi.” I gave my friend a hug, suddenly extremely grateful that of all the places this could’ve happened, it happened in Darlington.

Triscuit squawked, upset that he wasn’t also getting a hug. Gigi went over, opened the cage, and gave him a cuddle and a scritch before letting him out to roam the living room. He usually had free roam of the home during the day, and Gigi had only put him away because of me.

I’d known Triscuit from my college days, but it had been so long that he hadn’t recognized me when I first walked in. He seemed a lot less protective of his space now that I’d spent some time here.

We were walking back down to her café downstairs when we heard the commotion.

“Sir! You can’t go back there! Sir!” yelled Gigi’s employee, loud enough for us to hear from halfway up the staircase.

There was someone trying very hard to open the door at the bottom of the stairs, and judging by the way the handle was jerking violently, whoever it was didn’t realize or care that it was locked.

We exchanged a look and murmured a spell together, creating a physical bubble of defense around the two of us. She was a much stronger witch than me, but I was happy to bolster her magic.

She reached over to physically unlock the door, and we both stepped back. The door banged open violently. A wolf shifter stood outside the door, his eyes glowing gold and his hackles up like he was half feral. He scented the air, and then his eyes landed on me.

“I found you!”

“Do you know this guy, Penny?”

“Nope.”

“Sir, I think you’ve got the wrong person.” We both stepped forward, and our little shielded bubble pushed him back.

“No. I have the right person. You are her. I am your perfect man.”

Oh, shit! What the fuck? First Prax, and now this guy? He was clearly a little off his rocker.

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