Page 45 of The Forty-Year-Old Virgin Witch

“Look, your jilted demon can’t be too thrilled with your coven for allowing you to escape. You probably have some allies there. Why don’t you reach out to them and see? If the council knew, they would never force an inheritance ritual on anyone who was unwilling. Does this have to be hard?”

They stared at me.

“Why do you care?”

Aggie’s voice wasn’t mean or condescending; it was curious. Why did I care? I laughed it off because dwelling on it sent an uneasy feeling coursing through my veins.

“I don’t. I mean … I don’t. Do what you want. Though with the bounty they’re paying, maybe I’ll just turn you in myself.”

That was the wrong thing to say. I tried to throw up my shield, but goddamnit the vampyre was too fast, seizing me around the throat before I could even blink.

“Karl. Luka. Give us a moment.”

They immediately objected, but Aggie gave them such a harsh look that they immediately cowed. I smirked. The sight of supernaturals whipped by a puny little witch was vastly entertaining.

“Into the tree line.”

They went, grumbling under their breaths the entire way. The wolf managed a kick to my shin on the way out, and I zapped him in his ass as he went by.

“AND DON’T LISTEN!”

Then she turned that ferocious gaze to me, and I froze.

“I don’t like you, Quinn.”

I opened my mouth, but she kept talking.

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear you speak. You don’t get to say a damn word after demeaning and threatening me on what was a perfect evening.”

A flash of guilt came over me, and I pushed it down. I didn’t have time for guilt in my line of work. She barely came up to my shoulders, but I found myself bending down and away as she stuck a finger in my chest. Her eyes swirled in a myriad of gold, green, and blue, flashing with pain and anger so intense my face went slack. Oh fuck, was I getting turned on?

“I think you’re a spoiled, arrogant bully.”

I flinched, which was odd because it wasn’t anything I hadn’t already heard. Why did it hit my chest so heavily when she said it?

“But you have a point.”

What?

“I’m going to write a letter to my coven. You’re going to deliver it for me, ensuring it can’t be traced. Then you’ll never speak to me again. Are we clear?”

“Fine,” I agreed, only because I felt I owed it to her for the insults. She nodded, then held her hand out expectantly. I rolled my eyes but pulled out a blank piece of parchment and ink from my kit. She pointed at the ground, and I stared at her, confused.

Her foot to the back of my knee had me collapse to the ground, catching myself with my hands, and then that infuriating little tease used my back to write her letter. I fumed, caught between embarrassment and intense arousal as her pen exploded across my back in a flurry of movement. After a moment she paused, folding the paperand touching her fingertips to the parchment to mark it with her magick. I stood up.

“I’ll just take this, and—”

My fingertips brushed the seal, her magick reaching out from the letter and jumping out to meet mine. I shuddered as it coiled around me, nearly overwhelmed as it caressed and sighed against my skin. I shot her an alarmed look, but she was still glaring at me with barely concealed anger.

“What?”

I whistled loud and long, and after a few moments Ayah descended from the dark sky and landed on my forearm. I took a moment to watch Aggie admire her, but I could barely attach the letter to Ayah’s leg. My fingers felt heavy and thick. I tried to shake off the feel of her magick, wondering how it was possible to feel it so strongly when she hadn’t yet claimed her inheritance.

I finished and launched Ayah into the sky. Hopefully her coven would have good news for her.

“I’m … gonna go now. I’ll keep my ear to the ground for you.”

Why had I offered that? My information always came with a price and was certainly never given away for free. I turned and started walking, unable to look at her anymore. I tried to walk straight, wincing when I realized how hard I was. No wonder I was so off-balance. I needed to find that blonde chick and work out some of this repressed energy, because there was no way I was attracted to Aggie.

No way.

Oh fuck.

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