Page 4 of Accidentally Summoned an Incubus

Okay, I didn’t hex theentirething off, but it shriveled up to the size of a prune that had been left out in the California sun all day.

It took Chad a full minute to realize what had happened, and even then, he stared down at his crotch in utter disbelief.

I stood up, leaned in and whispered, “I quit.”

Chad’s screaming didn’t start until I was halfway down the corridor. I couldn’t help but smile, then groaned.

I would need to return to my coven immediately, report the hex to the head of the coven, who also happened to be my grandmother—not that she would show me any favoritism despite the fact that I was pretty much her clone—and write a full and lengthy report on every encounter with Chad that had led up to the point where I had no option but to hex him. Not that the paperwork was even necessary for the trial. My grandmother would use a special crystal to project my memories to everyone in attendance. No, the paperwork was a deterrent and made most of the coven think twice before throwing a wayward curse lest they be forced to write a twenty-page essay on why they didn’t use their words instead.

Billy was waiting for me in the office we shared, pacing back and forth, her ears slightly pointed and silver-tufted. The moment my scent filled the room, she snapped her head toward me, sniffing the air.

“No blood. You didn’t kill him, then?” she asked, almost disappointed.

I punched the side of her arm. “Who’s to say I didn’t strangle him?”

“Not funny, Lex.” She turned to me and placed both hands on my shoulders. Her glowing red eyes flickered with worry as she looked me up and down. Her nostrils flared, assessing for damage.

“You did magic. I can smell it,” she said, voice gruff.

“Dude, chill out,” I replied, squirming free and flicking her on the nose. “You’re starting to wolf out on me.”

“Sorry. And—ouch! Didn’t your mama teach you not to flick an angry wolf on the nose? Besides, I can’t help it,” Billy said, tucking her silver hair behind her still pointed ears. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed them back to rounded human ears.

Billy’s recent, uncontrollable wolfing-out around assholes like Chad wasn’t normal wolf behavior. I mean, it was normal for wolves (and any sane being) to be annoyed at people like Chad. But her wolf struggling to get out and tear him limb from limb, acting like he was a challenger, could only mean one thing.

Billy was becoming an alpha.

The problem for Billy was that while she was stilltechnicallypart of a pack, she had moved far away under the pretense of college and just never moved back. She was, for all intents and purposes, a lone wolf. And you can’t really be an alpha if you don’t have a pack to follow you.

Billy wasn’t able to tell me much about her pack, and I guessed she’d been spelled to secrecy. Any time she said something about her pack that would give away their position or what they did, a buzzing noise filled my ears, and I couldn’t make out what she was saying. Very powerful magic indeed. Aside from her dad being a helicopter parent who had pushed her to achieve all her life (which had resulted, instead, in pushing her away to the point where she would only rejoin the pack for major holidays), I didn’t know anything about my best friend’s life before I met her.

She tossed her icy hair. “Tell me what happened,” she said.

And so, I did.

“What a prick!” she shouted. “I wanna tear his throat out.” Her growl was inhuman as she started toward the door. Withwhat little sense I could muster, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

“That’s not a good idea, Billy. Besides, I’m already in enough trouble with the coven. If you kill him, that’ll be at least another ten pages of paperwork I’ll have to write.”

Billy seethed. “How many other women has he done this to?”

I sighed. I really didn’t want to think about it.

But that was the reality of the situation. If he’d done it to me, there’d most likely be others. “I’ll report it to the police after I’ve spoken to the coven,” I promised.

The door swung open, crashing into the wall with enough force to bust through the drywall. Brett’s heaving form loomed in the doorway. “What did you do to him?” Brett bellowed, his eyes boring into me.

“Do to who? Oh, Chad?” I asked sweetly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You did something,” he seethed. “Chad doesn’t cry over nothing.”

“I haven’t got the slightest clue of what you’re talking about,” I said, standing up and grabbing my purse. The good thing about working in such a toxic environment was that I was ready to leave at the drop of a hat.

Brett didn’t move an inch. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what you did to him, you bitch.”

I really didn’t want to have to hex another mortal, but Goddess help me, I would if this brute didn’t move.

Fortunately, it was Billy who came to my rescue.

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