Page 23 of The Forty-Year-Old Virgin Witch

“Why were you hired to track down Aggie?”Luka demanded.

Fear exploded in my chest, and I realized Luka was right. The leathers, the knives … all of it pointed to Quinn being a hired man. Hired to do what? By whom? Had my coven found me?

My pulse raced, and the world started to spin around me. It was hard to breathe, and spun so quickly—

“Aggie, easy.” Karl’s arms held me steady, his blue eyes holding my gaze. I clutched him tighter to me and breathed. After a few moments, I was able to control my panic. Quinn watched us all with wide, assessing eyes.

“Answer the wolf,” Karl demanded. “Who hired you?”

Quinn’s lips tightened. “You don’t need to know who, exactly. It was just a nearby coven who felt her burst of uncontrolled magick.” He shot me an approving glance. “They wanted me to determine its source, since there aren’t records of any supernaturals in this area for centuries.”

“And what happens if they find her?” Karl asked, and not kindly.

Quinn snorted. “They bring her a cake?Mother above, you’re all uptight. Kindly remove the stick that’s up your asses.”

Mother above. Why was a man using a witch saying? It made my skin prickle unpleasantly.

“Get out,” I spat at the intruder.

Karl protested. “We need to find out wh—”

“I don’t care, I just want him the fuck out of my cottage!” Angry tears fell down my face. My life felt like it was falling apart in front of me, and if I could just have this one bit of control, maybe I could hang on.

Quinn got the hint and popped up from the floor. He paused at the door, his brilliant eyes swimming with honest emotion.

“I didn’t mean to upset you or ruin your herbs. I thought you were in danger.”

“LEAVE!”

I shoved away the guilt at the flash of despair across his face, but he left. My body quivered with emotion as my magick churned chaotically under my skin. I needed to gain control in order to conserve it.

“Aggie.”

Luka put a hand on my shoulder, and I reflexively turned to him. I burrowed my nose into his neck, greedily inhaling his scent. Karl put a hand on my head, his lithe fingers combing a soothing motion through my hair. I felt my anxiety slip away, and my power settled back into my skin. I felt so safe, so protected, that I didn’t even think about what I did next.

I tilted my face up toward Luka, my lips parting slightly as I pushed forward to meet them. His body tensed in surprise, then a rumble reverberated in his chest as he kissed me back. One hand caressed my neck, the other going lower to rest on my bottom as he pushed me harder against him. I moaned as his hardness pushed into me, and he broke away with a gasp to leave a trail of fire along my neck and collarbone. My head leaned back onto Karl’s shoulder, my eyes silently offering an invitation. With his hand still curled in my hair he yanked my head back toward him and lowered his mouth to mine.

If Luka was a raging fire, Karl was the winter storm. His lips and tongue were cool, yet they awoke something deep inside me that I had tried to ignore for decades. Paired with Luka nipping along my skin, the sensations were glorious. The sound that left my throat only egged them on, until my magick swirled against my chest, but in a different way than usual. It wasn’t panicked or anxious—it was ready.

The ritual … the ritual….

I wrenched myself away from both of them. Luka’s eyes were almost completely dilated, gold overtaking most of his normal green color. Karl panted heavily, his eyes tinged with more red than usual. He shook his head, then turned to Luka.

“Go outside and walk it off.”

Luka immediately obeyed the vampyre, and that should have been my cue that something monumental was occurring that would change everything. As it was, I couldn’t process what was happening. I needed time. I needed space.

I looked at Karl, my face raw with my pain. He understood; all he did was bow and exit through the same door Quinn had.

“We will be there for you when you’re ready. Enjoy the soup.”

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