Page 34 of My Hexed Honeymoon

Diego sneers at the both of us, disgust dripping from his voice and his features. “You need me, and you know it.”

“She needs you.” Riven lifts their head, ever so regal, pale eyebrows arched up near their hairline. “Although I suppose, in turn, that means…”

As if it’s impossible for them to actually say the words, they demurely fold their hands in front of them and skip right over the rest. “You’re both welcome to join me. It’s a bit of a journey, and we’ll need to travel light.”

They deliver it with flair, as if it’s an invitation for a week-long getaway, not a magical excursion with hiking and camping, which I assume comes along. There aren’t many wells of raw magic in areas where humans bulldoze and populate.

Sometimes I worried nature was a tap that’d run out, not sure if it’d be a dream or a nightmare for me to wake up in a world without magic.

Maybe it’d be easier,I thought, but the mere idea makes me feel cleaved in two.

Diego sweeps his gaze over his council members before returning it to Riven, and whoa, I almost forgot they were all here as well. “We’ll discuss it,” he says.

I have no idea if that “we” includes me, but since the mission does, he’s going to quickly discover that it includes me now.

“I figured.” Riven bobs their head in the tiniest show of respect. “I’ll be waiting for your decision near the southern tree line where you found me. Within howling distance, should you need me.”

They stride toward the exit like they’ll be able to roam the compound unaccompanied, when I suspect they’ll be immediately intercepted by the werewolf who looks like he fronts a Norse metal band.

They open the door and—sure enough—meet the firm resistance of Sasquatch.

Guy seriously has to stoop to shoot the vampire the stink-eye through the open frame.

“Sasquatch,” Diego says from directly behind me, “please escort Riven to the lobby and stay with them while we make our decision.”

Riven waves goodbye like they’ve just performed to a sold-out crowd.

Then they take it further by blowing me a kiss.

And I tell myself it doesn’t make me happy, the jealousy that snaps Diego’s shoulders so tight. I know it’s the bond, more obligation than affection. But there’s also a golden string that binds him to me, even if only a result of magic.

So, even as I throw up my walls in the name of self-preservation, part of me still aches to figure out how we could be a real team.

I can’t rid myself of the urge to find a way to become a real team—an unconventional one, sure, but something solid.

Because if we don’t, there may not be any supernatural creatures left.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A witch,a vampire, and a werewolf walk into a forest…

As much as I wish that were a setup for a joke, my two-day camping trip with a pair of creatures with supernatural speed and strength has been all too real.

Not funny at all, really.

In fact, if I were rating the experience, I’d give it zero stars.

Thanks to a spell, we have to repower each morning with the sunrise, the vampire is traveling during the day, out in the sunshine for the first time in their undead life.

Riven glides over roots and underbrush with ease, practically floating up steep inclines, gracefully agile even when the gravel slips beneath our feet. Diego simply tramples it, sure-footed and heavy enough to create his own path.

Meanwhile, I trip over everything that can be tripped over, huffing like an asthmatic squirrel trying to keep up.

But on this second straight day of playing jungle crusader, my footsteps fail me, my jelly legs refusing to take one more step.

This is what I get for clinging to my pride when Diego offered to carry me, the noble brute.

Who was I kidding? I didn’t have pride. All I had were sore muscles and blisters upon blisters—even with the fancy hiking boots the werewolves set me up with, gently used so they were already worn in. “Okay, I’m calling it. We need to set up camp for the evening, or this is where you’ll have to bury me.”

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