Page 39 of Accidentally Summoned an Incubus

He looked down at me in confusion. “For what?”

“For not making this about you.”

Lochran’s face softened. He planted a soft kiss on my forehead before saying, “You’re strong and capable, my little witch. And if you wanted him dead, I have no doubt he already would be. My only concern is to be here at your side.” Lochran thought carefully before adding, “But I would consider it an honor if you asked me to end him for you.”

“No fair!” Billy huffed, silver fur fluttering over her exposed skin. “If the Babadook is allowed to kill him, then I should be allowed to too!”

Lochran scoffed. “Cool it, Lassie. If you’re a good girl, I’ll let you chew on his bones.”

“What are you going to do with him, Shadowman? Flutter your wings at him?” Billy made a butterfly movement with her hands, causing Lochran’s lips to twitch in amusement.

“You better hope he has an allergy to dogs—”

“No one is killing Chad,” I said. While I appreciated the pair trying to lighten the moodbefore the trial, we really were going to be late if I let them continue.

“But what if he turns up on our doorstep? Can I kill him then?” Lochran asked.

I rolled my eyes at him but couldn’t quite hide the smile twinging my face. It felt like a lifetime ago that I’d first told Lochran about the no-touching rule, and he’d responded:What if you fall down a well and are unconscious? Can I touch you then to rescue you?His method, immature and infuriating as it was, of breaking the building tension worked just as well now as it had then.

“If Chad Brunswick shows up on our doorstep, you can kill him in whatever manner you see fit. But he won’t. He’s probably surrounded by a team of cosmetic surgeons trying to rebuild his penis as we speak.” If that was the case, I would happily write another thirty page essay just for the joy of hexing it off for a second time.

Billy suddenly stiffened, her eyes flashing inferno red as they snapped toward the front door. Her canines lengthened to lethal points, her icy talons tearing into the fabric of the couch as a fine dusting of fur flashed in waves over her skin. Her nostrils flared, but the growl that rumbled in her throat was different to the dominant, challenging growl I was used to hearing from her. Nonetheless, Lochran took a protective step in front of both Billy and me.

Billy snapped at Lochran, who held his hands up in a have-it-your-way gesture. My mate’s lips twitched into a grin as he took a step back and draped his arm across my shoulder. “This will be fun to watch,” he whispered into my ear as Billy stood up.

She violently shook her body, dispelling the change her wolf had brought about. Her cheeks flushed red as she frantically ran her fingers through her hair and straightened her clothes.

A moment later, the front door swung open to reveal—

PriscillafuckingRaisin.

Who was attached to the arm of my brother.

For the first time, I was glad my magic had been stripped from me. Otherwise, I would definitely be writing another journal.

Priscilla was the worst. Scratch that. Priscilla’smomwas the worst. Our coven rarely accepted new members, but we could never turn away a lone witch in need—which was what Priscilla’s mother claimed to be when she first arrived on our doorstep two and a half decades ago, heavily pregnant and without a cent to her name.

While she might have been allowed to stay, the magic of the coven refused to acknowledge them as one of our own. The house she was given remained silent. And when she tried to move into another house while the family was on holiday, that house also went suspiciously inactive. Despite trying every year, no incubus ever appeared at the Samhain summoning for Priscilla’s mom. And when she tried relentlessly to seduce the mated incubus in the coven, she was issued a final warning. Her final strike happened when Priscilla was eighteen, when her mom tried to usurp my grandmother as head of the coven. Priscilla’s mom was exiled, and she decided to leave Priscilla behind.

One could be forgiven for feeling sorry for Priscilla, but she was just as cruelas her mother. She lied and cheated, manipulated and blackmailed her way through the coven, but was always careful that her crimes were just on the cusp of not serious enough to induce a trial of her own.

My own personal grievance with Priscilla started when she tried to bully me at school. Like her mother, she coveted things that weren’t hers. I’d saved my pocket money for months to buy the extortionate limited edition stuffed wolf Beanie Baby, and when I told her that I wouldn’t trade her for her old tatty unicorn Beanie Baby, I found my wolf suspiciously decapitated when I returned from recess.

And now the slimy wraith was hanging off the arm of my brother. I knew she’d been after him for years. Like her mother, the Samhain summoning didn’t work for Priscilla. Jake, being the only single warlock around, had been the subject of her desires—double gross—for years. Why she didn’t just leave the coven for her kicks like every other single witch was anyone’s guess. But I guessed not having a succubus side helped her focus her energy on my brother.

But, despite having the emotional intelligence of a toad, Jake had always quashed her advances. Why would he entertain Priscilla Raisin now?

I had a sudden and intense urge to get Jake in a headlock and noogie some sense into that thick skull of his. But it would have to wait until after the trial.

The house creaked in excitement at its new guests, and the kettle began whistling in the kitchen.

“We’re not staying, House. We need to go,” I said. Also, there wasn’t a hope in Hades’s underworld that Priscilla would be crossing my threshold. As if sensing my anger, a low, barelyaudible challenging growl issued past Billy’s lips.

Jake whistled a low note as his eyes darted about the hallway. “This is going to take some work.”

A candle flew off the wall and hit Jake directly between the eyes. I was not ashamed to admit that, as a dutiful older sister, minor bodily injuries on Jake were an endless source of amusement.

But I stifled the giggle threatening to erupt as Jake rubbed the red welt forming between his brows. “Sorry,” he called to the house, which answered with an indignant huff and the silencing of the kettle. “Nice to see you again, Lochran.” Jake nodded at my mate, who still wore an infuriatingly smug smile, as if he were about to witness something spectacular.

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