Page 32 of Blood Witch

“I can see the spells binding you. The contract with the Council,” I whispered, reaching now, with my magic and my crimson-tinted sight.

“You can see the Council of Covens’ spell? The strength of their power, Mabel, I mean, how are you doing this?” he asked, stunned.

I didn’t know the answer to that, but the deeper I looked, the angrier I grew. The Council really had slipped a doozy of a loophole in the contract. Typically, the spell would have been over once the conditions of the contract had been met, i.e. Fin investigating the missing blood from the school and seeing if it had anything to do with the magic issue.

“Those bastards never intended to release your contract. They planned to keep you, an Enforcer, at their beck and call,” I growled angrily.

“Fuck. I need to undo this, Mabel. Wait, can you?” he asked, and I gulped.

I was still inside the magic realm. That was what I called that ethereal plane of existence where I could sometimes sneak peeks into when I was full of blood or power. With Fin’s blood pulsing through me, it was almost too easy. I reached out with my fingertip, drawing over the cuneiforms the Council had used on his skin.

“I think I see it now. Yes, I think I can manipulate the runes. Fin, I’m going to change the contract and end their hold on you,” I said, and my voice sounded strange to my ears, but I did not let that stop me. “I just need your permission, Fin.”

“You have that, Mabel. My permission. My trust. My loyalty. My body. And my heart, sweet witch. You have me,” he vowed, his voice deep and filled with meaning.

Nothing else had ever meant as much as those last three words. Gathering my courage and my strength, I funneled my magic into a single line of power. Like a pen, I wielded that line and scrawled over the runes on his skin with my own spell. With every line and shape I drew, I infused these constants.

Fin was his own man.

His own boss.

No one had power over him.

Instead of being Fino Apellare, the Enforcer who was the last call you made when you wanted a certain resolution to a problem, he was Fin, my mate, the Enforcer with the final and only say concerning his life and his choices. I did not know why the Council did this thing, but it was wrong, and it would not stand.

“There,” I grunted, collapsing against him when I was done.

I only hoped I did not hurt him. The spell the Council cast was strong, but I guess I had love on my side. Once I started changing the spell, the glyphs on his face and body changed with it. He was safe now, though. And that meant everything to me. I closed my eyes, suddenly so sleepy I could not stay awake.

“Mabel? Mabel!”

“Gonna rest a bit,” I mumbled.

Then the room went black.

CHAPTER11

A soft ringingsounded in my ears—no, wait, it was a whirring, like a fan. I frowned. I didn’t have a fan in my small dungeon room. And judging from the dank and musty smell, I was still in that room.

But was I alone?

Where was Fin?

It all came rushing back to me then. The intense headlong rush to have sex with the man who’d filled my every thought since meeting him.

Crap.

What else happened?

Why couldn’t I recall?

Then it hit me in a second rush of images and emotions.

Me claiming him with my bite. Me drinking his blood. His delicious, spicy, ginger-flavored blood. His beautiful words confessing he felt the same.

And magic.

Mine trying to undo the Council’s tricksy spell. His magic welcoming mine, encouraging it, feeding it.

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