Page 6 of Handcuffs and Hexes

“You look as shitty as I feel,” I said.

“I can always count on your honesty,” Mike said. “Trust me, you look worse.”

“Thanks.”

Even the beautiful Mrs. Hayes, who had never really liked me on account of the fact that I spent so much time with her husband, had a pitying look in her eyes. It wasn’t that she thought there was anything untoward going on between us, but more that she associated me with the reason that Mike often went home late was because we were always getting out to just one more call. Or at least I didn’t think it was because she was jealous or anything; it was hard to imagine someone as gorgeous as her being jealous of me. She was literally an ex-model, and their kids belonged in commercials.

They wished me well, and I was finally left alone to feel sorry for myself. I hated feeling weak. I was just nodding off to sleep out of boredom when a knock at the door had me jerking awake again.

“Hello gorgeous, ready to go home?”

A certain suave wizard stood leaning against the doorjamb.

Seth? Seth was the one Chief had gotten to play nurse and bodyguard? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!

Seth’s punk-rock-meets-Victorian-poet-dying-of-consumption style no longer fazed me. I had known him for too long for that. He’d leaned into his punk side today with a pair of ass-kicking boots, a studded belt and a strategically ripped muscle tee. There was an illegally generous amount of lean, muscular bicep on display. I bet he’d gotten quite a few looks on his way in. He looked like the type to give law enforcement trouble rather than help us. But you know what they say: don’t judge a book by its cover.

I had to admit, though, that sometimes I really wanted to get the cuffs on him and throw away the keys.

Seth strolled into the room like he owned the place, and in his hand was a bouquet of daisies. The sight of them immediately cheered me up. He set the daisies in the vase on the table before picking one and tucking it behind his ear.

Seth looked ridiculous. The white and yellow flower was a stark contrast to the black and metal outfit. Pulling up a chair to my bedside, Seth flopped down into it before reaching over to touch my wrist gently. He looked down at the wristband.

“Hazel Sarah Cooley,” he read.

“Sarah is fine.” That was what everyone I worked with called me since Hazel sounded too close to Hayes, and Mike and I were often together.

“It’s Hazel. Says so right there. Or do you prefer Hazy?”

“No. What type of nickname is that?”

“Aww.” He took the daisy from behind his ear and tucked it behind mine. “But what if I wanted to call you Hazy Daisy?”

Was this guy for real? He had no business giving me a nickname of any type. And not just because he was him and I was me, but because, technically, Seth already had a live-in demon boyfriend. Or was that a husband? I wasn’t sure I knew the correct terminology, but I knew that Liam considered Seth his mate. I’d worked with monsters and shifters long enough to understand what that meant. Seth was a total tease, and if I had to be honest, so was Liam, but they were not available.

So then why did the idea that Seth had given me a cutesy nickname make me all fuzzy inside? It must be magic. I didn’t trust it.

“Nope. No way. I’m not responding to that.”

“Sure you will, Hazy Daisy.”

“If you call me that again, imma smack you.”

The discharge nurse came in then, and it wasn’t long before I found myself being wheeled out of the hospital by one annoying wizard.

Chapter 4

Liam

IwatchedSethhelpOfficer Cooley out of the wheelchair as I drove through the hospital’s roundabout toward them. She looked like a witch who’d overextended her magic: exhausted and drained. Except she was no witch.

Seth helped her into the back seat and then motioned that he’d drive, so I sidled over to the passenger side as he came around to the driver’s seat.

I couldn’t believe Seth had actually done it. He’d signed us up to care for Officer Cooley until she was well enough to be alone.

Seth was special when it came to wizards because he didn’t just train in wizardry; he was also an accomplished witch. Many wizards looked down on witchcraft as inferior woman’s magic, which was ridiculous because throughout history, some of the most potent witches and wizards dabbled in both.

His witchy side replenished magic through sex, which was where I came in. At first, I’d viewed it as a way to repay the young wizard for treating me like a real person and giving me so much freedom; after all, I enjoyed bodies of all persuasions. But imagine my surprise when I woke up one day to the realization that not only did I love the wizard whose family line had once enslaved me, but that he was my mate, my one and only, my forever and ever.

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