Page 7 of Sigils & Spells

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I helpthe guys unload the last of the boxes, which are heavier than they look. Thankfully the drive from the docks to the warehouse was without issue, but then again, Ivan’s drivers know all the backroads and shortcuts. My eyes settle on a familiarbruja, biting her fingernail as she goes over her clipboard with precision. Her eyes dart from the paper to me as I set down the last box.

“All good?” I ask as I brush off the box dust from my hands. I don’t miss how her eyes dip to my hands as they do so, traveling up my jean-clad thighs before a blush spreads across her cheeks.

The sight makes my cock twitch, and I can’t help but smile.

It’s been this way since that very first day she walked into the waiting room. I worried she was getting herself into trouble, feeling some strange sort of possessiveness that night that was new to me, but now…

Now I live in the cracks and the stolen moments, wondering when I’ll see her. Evie Balfour, Ivan’s resident witch. There’s something about her that calls to me in a way I can’t describe. I know I shouldn’t pay attention to such things, however getting involved withanyoneon Ivan’s payroll is probably asking for trouble. We’re all here for one reason or another, and the last thing I need is some pretty little foxy bruja swaying me away, infiltrating my mission.

But what if I want to be swayed away … for a moment or two or three?

Q and the rest of the guys head back out, no doubt to make another run. It’s Saturday night, and Ivan usually has them out all weekend.

For the time being it’s just Evie and me.

“All good, now,” she says with a sweet smile as she sets her clipboard down.

“What kind of science experiment you running this time?” I ask, if only because I need to keep talking, keep moving or I’ll be far too tempted to pull this woman into my arms and never let go.

“I’m close to stabilizing the potion. If my tests come out the way I expect they will… I’m going to be able to makea lotmore for Ivan to distribute.”

She points to one of the boxes by the door.

“Can you open that one?” she asks as she sets about her lab.

I don’t know much about the potions, other than Ivan says they help ‘stabilize the mind’ of those who he says are ‘afflicted.’ My boss seems to think he’s going to make the next Captain America in his labs, which either makes him brilliant or delusional, I’m not sure which.

But the fact he’s employed someone like Evie, means he’s definitely thinking outside the box.

Well-behaved men aren’t the ones remembered, are they?

“Yeah, sure," I oblige as she lines up her test tubes, all of them filled with a pale green liquid.

CHAPTER5

EVIE

I spendthe next few weeks desperately trying to find a way to stabilize the shifter formula with my magic. Every day, I leave work exhausted, having used my magical energy more in the last week than I have in the entirety of the previous year.

It’s exhausting work, but I have to admit, I’m enjoying it.

I even find myself coming up with potential methods to add magic to the mix, and then discarding them at odd moments of the day and night.

I’ve heard the rumors about Ivan Cambridge, but I’m beginning to believe that he really does want to help the shifter community. After all, the humans who know about shifters tend to fear them, assuming that werewolves and the like are ravening beasts who attack for no reason.

My grandmother taught me long ago that the stereotype simply isn’t true. Most shifters are simply regular people who sometimes like to go for a run in their animal shapes.

A month into my new job, it’s a Thursday afternoon, and I have taken an afternoon break to grab coffee, making a run to my old workplace to pick up drinks for all my new coworkers.

I’m headed back into the warehouse when suddenly it hits me.

Apparently, my subconscious has continued working on the problem even when I’m not aware of it.

I rush down the hall and into the lab, setting down the drink holder full of coffee cups on one of the lab tables and instantly forgetting about it.

“Are you okay?” Dr. Fitton asks.

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