Page 252 of Castings & Curses

Just leave me alone.

No matter how much I wished for something, it would not happen. I was not that kind of witch.

Jeremy stepped closer to me, making me cringe and giving me the willies.

How did I ever let this creep touch me?

I supposed hindsight was twenty-twenty, and now that I had Arlo, most other men looked like total toads beside the handsome-as-sin healer. He was almost finished with his courses and was going to be a certified healer by the end of summer. I was so proud of him, I could burst. It was thrilling to have something to be happy about in light of everything else going on in the world.

Stuck up, snobby wizards like Jeremy took that sort of thing for granted or as their due. I knew he had a grudge against elementals, though I did not know why. But that would have to wait. I had way too much on my plate to worry about the inner workings of this cretin’s mind.

“Looks like you need a lesson on how to treat your betters,” he said from way too close to me.

I didn’t start or gasp. I finished watering the fifth row of hybrid vines and placed the watering can on the ground. Then I straightened, wiping my damp hands on the front of my overalls. I looked cute as heck today in a cropped tank top and my denim overall shorts, paired with hot pink Crocs, and I was rocking the gardener look hard.

Some might be turned off by my colorful and comfy attire, but Arlo liked me as I was. And that was all I really needed. I didn’t tell him I loved him again. Not yet. I was kind of hoping he would say it before I did.

My mind on my boyfriend, I wasn’t paying attention to idiot Jeremy, who was now so close I could smell the alcohol on his breath. Typically, magicals did not get drunk unless they mixed their drinks with one or another potion to counter their supernatural metabolism.

“Are you drunk?” I asked, exasperated, as he tugged on my overall strap.

“Think you’re so cool with your fire witch friend, and those other elemental sluts,” he growled, unfastening the strap.

“What the hell? Stop it,” I said, slapping his hand away.

“You bitches are bleeding our magical stores dry. You need to learn your place!”

I backed up, wide-eyed at the hatred he was spewing. Even his friends looked uncertain as he kept coming, handsy as ever. The fucker was really getting on my nerves, and I looked at the three wizards, hoping they would interfere. I should have known better.

“What are you doing, Jeremy? We barely know each other anymore. Back off.”

“Oh, you think now you’re banging that wizard, you can just brush me off,” he growled.

“Are you just going to stand there?” I asked his friends, and two of them answered by running away.

Cowards.

The third stood there, breathing out of his mouth, eyes glazed over with whatever potion they’d imbibed to feel the effects of the alcohol they’d drunk.

I gulped, stepping back, but careful not to appear like I was running away. Jeremy was breathing hard and looking at me like a predator watching his prey. I did not need to give him any excuse to act on his questionable impulses.

“What’s going on here?”

I whipped my head to the side and saw Mabe bearing down on us. The blood witch’s eyes were rimmed in red, and she was pale and a little twitchy. She got that way when her hunger rose too close to the surface.

“They were just leaving,” I blurted. “Get out of here, Jeremy. Last chance.”

“Ha! I think we can take down two bitches. Don’t you, Hendrick?”

Mabe grinned, and I winced. Poor Hendrick did not know what he was asking for when he advanced on an angry Mabe. The blood witch looked so petite and fragile. Totally misleading, she pouted her lips and clasped her hands in front of her, tilting her head to the side like she was some weak thing.

I wondered had I not been thinking about Arlo, if I wouldn’t have heard Jeremy coming. Then this whole mess could have been avoided. But no, I would not take credit for the jerk’s idiocy.

Keeping steady, I cast a glance at Mabe, who was reeling in the other wizard like a lure with a big-mouthed fish on the end. She was ready for a fight. I could tell by her easy stance.

The question was, was I up for one?

“You wanna teach me a lesson?” she asked the inebriated asshat, biting her lower lip and looking all helpless and tiny.

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