Page 4 of Handcuffs and Hexes

I was still holding Officer Cooley when two more enforcers from the EA arrived. They had yellow bands around the arm of their uniform, distinguishing them as the special team the EA was assembling to look into this matter.

“Give her here.” Officer Newman reached for the woman in my arms. I hesitated. For one thing, Newman and I didn’t always see eye to eye, and I didn’t want to relinquish my hold on her.

Instead of handing her over automatically, I looked around for Officer Hayes. He was one of the few people I would trust aroundher, but he was holding his head and didn’t look too good. And the guy from the EA was stepping toward me now, probably with tons of questions about what happened. I had to catch them up.

Reluctantly, I passed her over to Officer Newman.

“Jesus! So this thing’s what they’re calling The Breach, huh?” said the new guy I didn’t recognize.

“Arewecalling it that too?” I asked.

He shrugged. “That’s what they’re using back at headquarters because that’s what the boys in blue are calling it.”

As Officers Newman and Koo got Cooley and her partner to the hospital—Hayes had hit his head on his landing and had lost consciousness for about thirty seconds—I caught the newcomers up with what was happening.

I spent the next hour or so helping them craft a magical dome around it to keep people out. We made sure to keep the perimeter of the dome at least twenty feet away from the edge so if The Breach grew again, they’d have time to expand the dome. This was a band-aid solution of course, because we couldn’t continue to expand the dome indefinitely; it would eventually take over Darlington. And then what? The whole world?

But I was getting ahead of myself. When the rest of the team arrived, I left, having collected all the data I needed for Desmon.

The first thing I did was head over to Desmon’s place and give him a quick rundown. He wasn’t happy that I still didn’t know what or who was behind it. I had thought being close to it wouldgive me some clue, but it hadn’t. The only thing I managed to get was this strange buzzing sound whenever I got close.

From my room in Desmon’s estate, I opened a portal to my loft. I’d lived with Desmon for a time while I tried to save up enough for my own place after leaving the Wizard’s Elder Council and, therefore, relinquishing access to my father’s money. Even though I had my own place now, I still sometimes stayed at the estate if I was too tired after a particularly difficult magic-draining mission to make it back home. Not to mention, Mom currently worked as Desmon’s housekeeper and probably would for the rest of her life, considering she was still too scared to leave the estate on her own lest the WEC find her.

I stepped through the portal and was greeted by Liam, my demon house husband, sitting at the gaming station cursing at noobs. My lips curled up into a smile at the sight of him. Technically, Liam sometimes helped me out with my job as Desmon’s personal wizard, but he didn’t have full-time gainful employment, and I was okay with that. As long as I was here, he wouldn’t need to work a single day in his life if he didn’t want to.

He was part of the reason why I wanted to have fuck-you money. Demons lived a very long time, and I wanted to be able to care for him long after my body had given up. I made my way over to the love of my life and planted a kiss on his temple, careful not to knock his mouse arm and send his character into the line of fire.

“Finish this round, but don’t start another one. We’re going out.” I gave his shoulders a squeeze then went to take a quick shower. I was already getting dressed when Liam materialized behind me, probably hoping to catch a quickie. He sent me the cutest disappointed pout. It was amazing how adorable the demoncould be when he wanted to be, yet also then make a complete switch to hot and demanding in a heartbeat.

“Later,” I promised. “First, we need to pick up a certain charming little officer from the hospital.”

Liam frowned. “Officer Cooley?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s hurt?”

“Her and Hayes.”

“Shit.”

“Got blasted by a bunch of uncontrolled magic and hit the ground pretty hard.” I finished squeezing myself into a pair of too-tight, faded jeans, the pair with chrome zippers across one thigh and matching straps and buckles on the other. “You drive. I’m going to send a quick update to the EA on our way there and make sure the police department knows that both of them should be monitored for at least a few days in case of side effects.”

Liam concentrated and formed the soulstuff which he was made out of into khakis and a polo. Then he made himself look completely human.

God, he could look so preppy when he wanted to. That was the thing about demons: they could be anything they wanted. The two of us were definitely giving pit-bull-with-a-golden-retrievervibes, and I was okay with that. I pulled him in, gave him a kiss, and then we were on our way.

Chapter 3

Hazel

Iwoketothesmell of antiseptic and the sound of a machine beeping from somewhere down the hall. The white ceiling of Darlington General Hospital looked slightly green, and my first thought was, huh, they managed to make LEDs look like fluorescent bulbs.

“How you feeling, kid?” asked a kind but gravelly masculine voice.

I looked up into Chief Henderson’s warm brown eyes. He was the only one who could call me kid and get away with it.

“Like crap,” I admitted. The words came out almost like a groan.

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