Page 40 of Accidentally Summoned an Incubus

“Good to see you, Jake. Have you met Lex’s friend, Billy?” Lochran replied, an oddly gleeful smile on his face.

Billy, who at some point had moved to hide behind me, stiffened. She cast Lochran a death glare as she took a step to my side once more, her cheeks almost as scarlet as her wolf’s eyes.

What in Hecate’s name was going on?

Jake’s eyes darkened and something pulsed in his neck, but he said nothing.

“Aren’t you going to say hello?” Lochran asked, Billy and now Priscilla throwing him another death glare.

“Oh. Hi, Billy. You’re a wolf shifter, aren’t you? Um, Lex mentioned something about a wolf-shifter friend. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Pricilla’s death glare now slid to Jake. With a viper like strike, she slapped the back of his head, disheveling his hair. My fingers flexed, and I automaticallymotioned to flick a hex at her for touching my brother, forgetting that I had no magic.

Billy vibrated beside me, and one huge, crooked shadow wing flexed in front of both of us.

Neither Jake nor Priscilla noticed.

“Really, Jake?” Priscilla called over her shoulder as she stomped down the front steps. “You’re just going to fawn over some flea-bag wolf while I’m standing right there?”

Jake, hot on her heels, called, “I wasn’t fawning, Pris. I’ve just never met a wolf shifter, is all!”

The house angrily slammed the door behind them.

Billy, after a moment of grinding her teeth and flexing her fingers, pushed Lochran’s wing out of her way and took a step toward the front door, which opened with a gentle click for her. Jake and Priscilla had made their way beyond our eyeline, but Billy, with her inhuman sense of smell, had no problem following their trail, angrily stomping her way toward the heart of the town where the town hall sat.

“What was all that about?” I asked.

Lochran just shrugged as he walked me down the steps of the porch. “There’ll be time enough to explain later. But, for now”—his fingers interlaced with mine—“tell me how you’re feeling about the trial.”

“Actually, much better than I thought I would. I know I’ll be found innocent, and while I’m not exactly thrilled about reliving the memory again, I’m more nervous about what happens after. I need him off the street, and I’m afraid that the mortal authorities won’t take me seriously.”

A cool wind whipped around us, and Lochran pulled me closer. Shadows pooled from him, his crooked wing wrappingaround my back and blocking the breeze. “They will believe you. Even if I have to steal your grandma’s memory crystal and force the mortals to watch. I’ll do it if that’s what it takes.”

Heat bloomed in my chest. How could I not fall in love with my mate when he said things like that?

“You do not want to be in my grandma’s bad books,” I said. “I reckon stealing her crystal will earn you fifty pages at least.”

Lochran huffed a laugh. “She is a formidable woman. But so are you, Lex.”

Except, I wasn’t.

I’d allowed one mortal man’s actions to reduce me to this self-loathing shadow of a witch. I’d allowed him to chip away at my confidence time and time again because I’d convinced myself that I was to blame for his actions. That it was my succubus side that had put me in that situation, and not doing something sooner was my punishment—

As if sensing my spiraling thoughts, Lochran said, “We don’t know our strength until it’s tested, Lex.”

Chapter 20. Lex

“C’mon, guys,” Billy called irritably as she approached the town hall. She’d caught up with Jake and Priscilla but was keeping a safe enough distance to not distract them from yet another argument they were having.

The town hall was bathed in moonlight, accentuated by the rippling lilac witchlight that illuminated the street. The moment I came into view, the ancient bell began a lamented toll to indicate that the accused had arrived. The crooked front door opened with an earsplitting creak. I had anticipated the chatter of the rest of my coven to spill out into the street, but only a deathly silence swirled and settled around me.

Lochran’s arm pulled me closer. Sensing my growing apprehension, Billy cast me a glance before angrily shooing the still arguing Jake and Priscilla inside, allowing me one final moment with my mate.

Lochran pulled me against his chest, arms and wings enveloping me and blocking out most of the deafening silence.He pressed his lips gently to my forehead before saying, “If you could be anywhere but here, where would you be?”

My eyebrows knotted in confusion, but I answered anyway. “Somewhere far away, with no one to disturb us.”

Lochran’s finger hooked under my chin, and he tilted my face toward him. His eyes softened, the violet of his irises almost flickering in the witchlight. “When the trial is over, and you’ve been to the mortal police, I’m going to take you far away from here. Just you, me, and even Billy, if that’s what you want.” His eyes narrowed as if the last thing he wanted was to take Billy with us, but he would if I asked. “And I’m not bringing you back until this trial and the memory of Chad Brunswick don’t hurt anymore.” His hand brushed over my shoulder and down my arm until his fingers intertwined with mine.

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