Page 21 of Handcuffs and Hexes

“Was that before or after your little playtime?” I asked. “And before you deny it, I can smell your pleasure all over the loft. It’s better than the bacon.”

“After,” Seth said. “I used my magic after I went down on her.”

“And when did your headache start?” I asked Hazel.

“This morning.” She hesitated, then said, “It actually disappeared when we were fooling around. It got worse again when I got upset.”

“Hmm,” Seth said, nodding. “That’s a good thing.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because that confirms it is a magical hangover. Think of it like a temporary magic deficiency,” he explained. “You used so much magic to block that spell that you depleted yourself. My body creates magic with touch and sex. It’s helping you refill yourwell. But your well has a crack in it right now and can’t hold much. So it only works when we are in contact.”

“Hey, does that mean fucking will help her heal?” I asked.

“Yup. She’s all ours.”

Hazel rolled her eyes. “Why are you two speaking like it’s a done deal? I said I’ll let you twocare forme until this is over, but I never agreed to do”—she waved her hand—“whatever this is.”

“You mean a threesome?” I asked.

Her cheeks went fully red.

“Don’t worry.” I moved in close to whisper in her ear. “We’ll never do anything you don’t want. And we’ll always take care of you.”

“There is one thing I was wondering.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Can I meet whatever lives in the big enclosure?”

Chapter 10

Seth

Hazel’srequesttomeetLittle Bit was a good surprise, even though it had clearly been an attempt to move the topic away from threesomes. I’d worried about how she’d feel about reptiles and snakes but found that she had a healthy curiosity. Little Bit had been sunning herself on the rock under the heat lamp, so after a quick round of hand sanitizer so we no longer smelled like bacon, I got her out and into Hazel’s lap.

A ball python was a strange choice for a familiar, but Little Bit was great at her job. I’d still been trying to hide the fact that I was dabbling in witchcraft when I’d gotten Little Bit, and as I’d expected, no one had been the wiser. Usually people chose cats, or birds, or some other more common pet as familiars.

Little Bit had just enough IQ in that tiny head of hers to understand when she was working, basking in my magic like a heat lamp. Currently, she was attempting to crawl in Hazel's shirt right between the boobs where it was the warmest. She clearly had her priorities straight, and I was proud of her.

“I’m glad you’re not scared of snakes,” I said when she finally handed Little Bit back to me.

“Not little ones like Little Bit. I used to go out with my dad into the woods, and we’d look for frogs and lizards and snakes.”

It was the first time she’d offered anything about her life.

“Is he still around?” I asked, putting Little Bit back under her heat lamp and locking her back in her enclosure. “Your dad, I mean.”

Hazel shook her head. “No. He passed away when I was only a teenager.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too. He would be happy with the person I’ve become.”

“Your mother isn’t?”

She hesitated. “Look, I’m only talking because you told me about your life. My parents used to fight a lot. I didn’t know what it was about when I was younger, but now I know that it was about Darlington. We left when I was only a kid. I forgot about Darlington completely until I inherited my grandparents’ home.”

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