Page 24 of Castings & Curses

“What is this—a test?”

“Yes.”

Natalie rolled her eyes.

“You don’t know, do you?”

“Itmeanswith distinction.”

“Like I said. That doesn’t make any sense at all. How canZerohave any kind of distinction?”

She just stared at him and waited.

“Mathematically, it’s impossible.”

She continued to stare.

“What?”He finally exploded.

“It’sironic.” She’d taken great joy in dragging the word out, imbuing it with a wealth of meaning, all of which labeled him a moron.

From that moment on, he glared at her anytime their paths crossed and she gave him a look filled with superiority.

It was so muchfunto needle the wolf.

Bad luck for him that Pippa turned out to be the mate of his alpha.

Even worse luck that Corwin was the beta, right-hand manandbest friend of said alpha.

This meant their paths crossed an awful lot.

Including at the coven house upon occasion.

Pippa had moved into the wolf den, to be with her mate, but they joined the coven for dinner several times a week and every once in a while, Corwin came with them.

Natalie supposed it was inevitable that the true meaning behind their coven name would eventually get out once they mated outsiders, but still, she would have preferred Corwin toneverknow.

But then Pippa never did have much of a filter.

“Every once in a while,” she announced out of the blue at dinner one evening, just after they’d all begun eating, “when Jared makes me scream, it occurs to me our name should be The Cum Loudly in Zero Coven.” This time, she didnotuse the Latin pronunciation for cum.

Jared choked and started coughing, while Corwin just stared at Pippa for a long moment before turning his eyes toward Natalie and raising an eyebrow.

“You know,” Jo said. “I like that idea. Annika definitely makes me scream,especiallywhen she does that biting thing.”

The shy vampiress turned bright red.

“Maybe once everyone’s mates have arrived, we should officially update our name,” Pippa said with a grin.

“Forget it,” Rowan said. “I’m never mating, so you’re out of luck if you’re waiting on that. But hey, it’s not like I’ve been riding the abstinence train, so I’m not necessarily opposed to a name change, though generally,I’mthe one causing the screaming.”

The other witches groaned.

“Now you’re just bragging,” Tempest snarled. “Have some respect for those of us who haven’t seen any action in far too long.”

“It’s quite depressing, actually,” Morana said. “Our spellworkedand the result is a town full of eligible wolves, chameleonsandvampires, but no one has inspired me yet.”

“What about Blade?” Natalie asked slyly.

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