Thea Harrison's Blog, page 4

AMERICAN WITCH: Friday Snippets (7)

Happy Friday!

Here’s today’s snippet of AMERICAN WITCH.

This snippet begins Chapter Five, and as today is the last Friday before Tuesday’s release, it also concludes the Friday Snippets for AMERICAN WITCH. As always, this is draft material and things are subject to editing (and possibly deletion), so please don’t share.

Hope everybody has a good weekend, and you enjoy!

~ Thea

WANT AMERICAN WITCH NOW?

You can buy the full novel from my webstore now, before it’s available from the third-party vendors. If you can’t wait for the whole story, you can buy it today! Just click here to be taken to my webstore.

Or pre-order AMERICAN WITCH at any of these vendors.

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

__________________________________

AMERICAN WITCH

Chapter Five

Molly slipped her phone back into her purse and climbed into her SUV. Only time would tell whether Josiah was as good at keeping his word as he claimed. She had set her course of action. That had to be good enough for now.

The early-morning meeting with her new attorney, Nina Rodriguez, had highlighted everything that had been bothering her, and not in a good way. Nina was an attractive fifty-year-old Hispanic woman with sharp dark eyes and a warm smile who, she said, loved to take cheating assholes of either sex to the cleaners.

Molly had emailed the zip file of documents to Nina the night before, and they went over everything in person. As soon as Nina had laid eyes on the mysterious bank account, she’d recognized the format from a bank in the Seychelles islands.

“Is your husband laundering money?” Nina asked, one eyebrow raised.

“I-I don’t know,” Molly replied. When she’d found the violet panties, she had thought Austin couldn’t do anything more to rattle her. She’d been wrong.

Now, indulging in a newfound sense of paranoia, she drove around in circles while she kept an eye on the surrounding traffic. She was more shaken than she liked to admit, and she’d grown uncomfortable driving the Escalade. It was too distinctive, and the license plate a matter of record.

So she drove to the nearest Cadillac dealership and sold it. While she waited for the dealer to cut her a check, she called a car rental—not the one conveniently located across the street from the dealership, but one from a few miles away—and reserved a sedan. The rental company offered a pickup service, so she was able to complete both transactions within a couple of hours.

After that, she searched on her phone until she located an available Airbnb apartment in a trendy neighborhood near Clark Atlanta University. She chatted with the owner for ten minutes, then bought a week’s stay with one of her prepaid Visa cards and drove to the new place.

The owner lived in a midcentury house, and the one-bedroom rental was over a detached garage. She had invited Molly to use the driveway, so she parked on one side of the garage, near the outside set of stairs that led up to the rental. The door was locked with a lockbox, and the owner had given her the code, so she was able to let herself in.

After a quick walk-through, she discovered the other woman hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said the apartment was utilitarian. There were basic furnishings—a couch, a chair, a coffee table, and a forty-inch LED TV in the living room, along with a dinette set in the kitchen, adequate bedroom furniture with a double bed, and minimal wall decor.

But it was clean, and the large windows looked out at plenty of trees, giving the space an airy, peaceful feeling. And it was another place that felt fresh and new, a place where Austin had never been.

Most importantly, it was a place where now, hopefully, nobody could find her.

She hauled her luggage up the stairs, unpacked, and then went grocery shopping. By the end of the afternoon, she felt better than she had in days. She had a couple bottles of wine, she could cook comfort meals, and she didn’t have to go out unless she wanted to.

Other things nagged to be added to her to-do list. Things like finding a permanent place to settle down. Trying to find the woman from her dreams, or some other teacher, someone she could trust who was not Josiah.

But thinking about the rest of her life was overwhelming. She wasn’t ready to make any more decisions that would have long-term consequences, and she backed away quickly. That wasn’t what she needed to concentrate on this evening.

She still wore the two-piece suit from the meeting with Nina. Stripping out of her clothes, she had a long, luxurious shower, dried her hair, and dressed in jeans, a sweater, and a new leather jacket. It would get chilly in the park as the sun set.

No makeup. She pulled her hair back into a plain ponytail at the nape of her neck and gave herself a long, level look in the mirror. The woman staring back looked strong, no-nonsense, capable. You couldn’t tell her life was in ruins and she was a stranger to herself.

After shoving cash and identification into her jeans pocket, she folded a photocopy of one of the foreign bank statements and shoved that into another pocket, scooped up her keys, and left to pick up dinner.

When six o’clock came, she sat on one of the picnic tables underneath a shelter, feet planted on the bench seat and dinner sitting in two paper bags beside her.

Something brushed along her awareness. A car sped into view and parked beside her rental. From where she sat, she couldn’t tell what model it was, but it looked dark, low-slung, and powerful. While she waited for Josiah to emerge, she ran her gaze over the area.

A woman with a Great Dane jogged along the side of the park road a couple hundred yards away, but Molly’s and Josiah’s vehicles were the only two in sight. In the summer this picnic spot would be crowded until sunset, but now, as the evening chilled, they should have the clearing to themselves.

Josiah climbed out and strode across the open area like he was conquering it, his body loose-limbed and comfortable. Like her, he wasn’t young. He looked to be early- to midforties, but for all his maturity, his long, athletic body didn’t carry an ounce of spare fat. There was a tight, whipcord element to the breadth of his muscles. He looked nothing like Austin’s pampered, gym-built physique.

Okay, she had to be honest. The man was sex on a stick.

He wore a similar outfit, jeans, a black shirt and leather jacket, and the slanting evening sun gave his dark hair chestnut highlights. Look at that, he wasn’t quite as dark and dangerous as she’d first thought.

Then she met his hard, catlike amber eyes. A sense of his magic, dark, polished and well-honed, shimmered against her mind’s eye. It felt as sleek as his car looked and infinitely more powerful.

She threw everything into full reverse. He was every bit as dangerous as she had first thought. Every bit and more.

Maybe it hadn’t been the smartest idea to meet him in such a secluded spot. But he was a district attorney, she reminded herself, not a serial killer. By the time Josiah reached the picnic shelter, she had wrestled her reactions under control.

He climbed up to sit beside her, moving his long-limbed body with fluid ease. “Good venue for dinner.”

“I thought so too.” Digging into the first of the two bags beside her, she pulled out a six-pack of craft beer and offered it to him.

He accepted a bottle. Setting the six-pack between them, she handed him the second bag. He peered into it and then at the logo on the outside of the bag. “I’d hoped I was smelling fried chicken. Is this from a chain?”

“Nope. You will want to remember the name of this place. Best fried chicken in Atlanta.” She used the opener she’d bought to pry off the bottle cap, handed the opener to him, and took a pull from her bottle.

“Excellent. I was too busy to have a real lunch.” He selected a large piece and handed the bag back.

“How’s your job going? No nasty surprises, I hope?”

He replied lazily, “Nothing I can’t handle.”

I bet. She avoided saying that out loud.

Searching through the bag, she pulled out a foil-wrapped biscuit. The food was still hot, and she rolled the top of the bag down over the rest to hold in the warmth.

Then she crumbled her biscuit and sipped at her beer while Josiah ate in silence. When he finished his first piece, he fished out another. He seemed to be in no hurry to break the silence, but she had an agenda.

“What do people call you?” she asked. “Are you a witch or a warlock?”

He shrugged, finished his beer, and took a second bottle. “Either or both. Sometimes sorcerer. Occasionally asshole. Personally, I’m not in love with labels.”

Lingering warmth from the sunlight touched her face and hands, but the evening chill was setting in. “I don’t want to become a major force on the Eastern Seaboard. The thought never occurred to me, not even in my wildest daydreams.”

He grinned. “That was where I lost you, wasn’t it?”

She nodded. “One of the places. I could tell you want it though.”

“Oh yes,” he said, his voice deepening. “I’m going to be governor of Georgia within the next two election cycles.”

Looking at his hard, determined profile, she believed him. “But when you say become a major force,you don’t really mean by using the human political system. Do you?”

“No, although it will help to gain political power as well.” He glanced at her, a quick, calculating look, and then back over the clearing. “Most witches are territorial, especially in the witches demesne, which is run by a very old, well-established council. Outside Louisville, you might find areas held by either solitary witches or full covens. They don’t much like other people of significant Power moving in on their turf. Wars have been fought over who gets to hold which city. You might as well know I intend to claim Atlanta for my own.”

Wars.

Abruptly certain she shouldn’t be drinking alcohol while talking to him, she set aside her beer. “The Atlanta area isn’t pro-magic.”

“Give me enough time and I can flip it.”

His confidence was so rock-solid she believed him. “I never claimed Atlanta as my territory, and I don’t have the ability to hold it even if I had. If there isn’t any other mature, practicing witch here, the city is wide open for the taking, right?”

He shook his head. “That’s not a yes-or-no answer. Atlanta may not be claimed by a resident witch, but it’s a place of special interest to a certain dangerous Power, which brings me to an important point. This Power likes to operate under the radar, out of public sight. I know you think I spelled your cell phone when we talked in the bar, but I didn’t. I could tell you were under some distress last night, and that’s why I cast a spell to contact you. The communication spell uses the nearest and best available way to reach out. At the time, that happened to be your cell phone, but it could also have been your television screen or computer monitor.”

“I see.” She took a slow breath. Looking at him sidelong, she asked, “How did you know I was distressed?”

“I could feel it. You were spewing Power like a geyser.” He tilted back his head and finished his beer. “More importantly, any creature with sensitivity and Power would have been able to feel it, and Molly—if you don’t trust me on anything else, trust me on this one thing—you don’t want to come to anyone else’s attention like that. It shows you’re out of control and makes you a mark to predators. There are creatures in this world that would love to sink their teeth into you and suck all the magic out of your bones like sucking the juice from a ripe peach.”

__________________________________

Copyright: 2019 Teddy Harrison LLC

All rights reserved

WANT MORE AMERICAN WITCH NOW?

You can buy the full novel from my webstore now, before it’s available from the third-party vendors. If you can’t wait for the whole story, you can buy it today! Just click here to be taken to my webstore.

Or pre-order AMERICAN WITCH at any of these vendors.

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

AMERICAN WITCH: Friday Snippets (6)

Happy Friday!

Here’s today’s Friday Snippet of AMERICAN WITCH for you! This snippet concludes Chapter Four. As always, this is draft material and things are subject to editing (and possibly deletion), so please don’t share.

Happy Reading

Thea

WANT AMERICAN WITCH NOW?

You can buy the full novel from my webstore now, before it’s available from the third-party vendors. If you can’t wait for the whole story, you can buy it today! Just click here to be taken to my webstore.

Or pre-order AMERICAN WITCH at any of these vendors.

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

__________________________________

AMERICAN WITCH

Chapter 4 (continued)

He shook his head, then wryly headed for the exit. At least he should be able to get some sleep at the safe house tonight, which was good because his new job hadn’t shown any signs of slowing down.

And Atlanta’s new DA had a big agenda and a lot to do.

The next day began as hectically as he’d suspected it would, but he had practiced law for a very long time, and nothing out of the ordinary occurred that was beyond his capacity to handle.

Midmorning, his cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen and surged out of his chair to close the door to his office. He recognized that number. It was the same one that had shown up when he spelled the phone call to Molly.

Hitting Accept, he held the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

He heard traffic in the background. She was slow to speak, but he could muster a wealth of patience when it mattered.

“Josiah.”

Take it easy, son, he told himself as he relaxed back in his chair. Don’t scare her away again. “Molly. Good to hear from you. What can I do for you?”

She demanded, “How did you spell my phone last night?”

He found his lips curving in an amused smile. She was obviously still mad about it. “Have lunch with me, and I’ll tell you. Better yet, I’ll show you. It’s easy.”

“I can’t have lunch. I’m across town from your office.”

“Then have dinner with me. I have plans, but I’m happy to cancel them.”

“Maybe.” Her reluctance came through loud and clear.

His smile widened. “Such enthusiasm. It’s a good thing I have a healthy ego, otherwise my feelings might be hurt.”

She snorted. “Listen, you’ve done too many things to try to influence me, and I don’t trust you.”

“Ouch,” he said, his amusement turning rueful. Over the years, he had grown so used to using small influencing spells in order to get his way he often cast them without giving it a second thought. But she was too intelligent and sensitive, and he had been too heavy-handed. “I deserve that. Does it help to know I only cast spells that would give you an encouraging nudge in the right direction?”

“Because you’re the one who gets to decide what the right direction is?” Her voice turned hard. “Anyway, I don’t care. It’s manipulative, and if you do it again, I’ll find some way to retaliate.”

Abruptly his amusement returned, along with curiosity. Spinning his chair in a slow circle, he asked, “What would you do?”

“I would…” Her voice trailed away. “Well, I don’t know what I would do. But I would figure something out.”

He had no doubt. If she knew a fraction of the things he knew, Molly could do an incredible amount of damage to an opponent. “I believe you, but that’s beside point. I apologize, and I promise to never cast an influence spell on you again. Will that do?”

She blew out a slow breath. “Maybe. But what if I decide to trust you and you go back on that?”

“I won’t,” he said flatly. “For one thing, I respect your awakening Power too much. I don’t want us to become enemies. For another, I just gave my word, and that means something to me.”

She went silent again, and a car horn honked in the background. This time he knew better than to push too hard, and she had been the one to call him, so he waited.

Finally she sighed. “Okay. I accept your apology. Unless you prove me wrong, I’ll take you at your word.”

As entertaining as this conversation had been, he had a mountain of work to do, so he turned brisk. “Great. I’ll ask again—what can I do for you?”

She lowered her voice. “What if I knew someone who might want to give the DA an anonymous tip?”

More surprises. She was turning out to be a wealth of interesting experiences. He straightened. “I would say the DA is intrigued. Tell me more.”

“It might lead somewhere, but then again it might not.”

“It happens,” he drawled. “Anonymous tips are notorious for that.”

“Also, it would be very good for your source if no action was taken until after her divorce was finalized.” She hesitated again. “You know, just in case the tip actually did lead to something.”

“Well, I don’t know what the information is. Nor do I know how long the divorce will take, but if it’s possible to wait, I think I could agree to that.”

“I met with a divorce attorney this morning,” she confessed. “Austin figured out where I was staying and showed up at the hotel last night, so she’s going to file papers and a restraining order right away. She’ll also be sending Austin a settlement offer I don’t think he can afford to refuse. Anyway, hopefully the divorce won’t take too long.”

“It must have been very unpleasant when Sullivan showed up,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. What have you got?”

“A proposition,” she replied. “I’ll tell you what I know—and I have to warn you, it isn’t a lot to go on—and in return I want you to teach me how to defend myself.”

He straightened from his slouched position. “Do you feel like you’re in danger?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Tension like a finely spun wire ran through her reply. “Maybe not. But I do feel uneasy, and I would like some insurance. Something up my sleeve, just in case. I’m not talking about a long-term commitment. One spell would do it, or even a way to somehow channel the ability I’ve already got. I would rather do that than buy a gun. Guns can be taken away from their owners, but nobody can wrestle this Power away from me.”

Ah, such naivete.

Still, given her current level of knowledge, she wasn’t wrong, and respect stirred. “Is this connected to your tip?”

“Yes. I think Austin’s dirty. I found something in the contents of our safe.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I accept your proposition. Now you have to have dinner with me and explain what’s going on. After I cancel my other plans, I’ll be all yours for the evening, but we shouldn’t meet in public.”

Her relief was palpable. “No, I don’t think we should meet in public either. We shouldn’t be seen together. Where do you want to meet?”

He considered various options. “Somewhere outside the city. Do you know the Sweetwater Creek State Park? I haven’t been there yet, but from what I’ve read, the park is huge. That should offer enough privacy.”

“Of course. It’s a beautiful place. I’ve been many times, and it’s only about thirty minutes out. Yes, I’ll meet you there. The park has a visitor center. Once you locate that, there’s a picnic area not too far away.” She rattled off directions, and he grabbed a pen to jot them down.

“Got it,” he told her. “I’ll leave right after work and meet you at six.”

“Thank you.” She paused, and when she spoke again, the reluctance had returned. “If you’re coming right after work, you’ll be hungry. I’ll bring something to eat.”

An inexplicable reaction warmed him. They weren’t friends, and he had given her good cause to be wary of him. He couldn’t think of a single reason she would make such an offer unless she was just… nice.

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“See you then,” she said.

Before she could disconnect, he added, “Oh, and Molly? If someone is really intent on doing you harm, a restraining order isn’t anything more than a piece of paper. You should relocate, and this time don’t use your credit card.”

She blew out a breath. “That’s next on my list of things to do. I checked out this morning, and as soon as the bank opened, I bought some prepaid Visa cards. After I finish talking with you, I’m going to find somewhere else to stay.”

Relaxing, he smiled and purred, “I knew you weren’t just a pretty face.”

“You think I’m pretty?” She sounded astonished but then added quickly, “I’m hanging up now.”

He laughed. “I think you’re beautiful, and I’m hanging up now too. Be careful, and make sure you don’t have somebody following you. See you soon.”

After the call ended, he fired off an email to cancel his dinner date and then sat back in his chair.

So, Molly thought Sullivan was dirty. How about that.

Her information might or might not be relevant to Josiah’s interests, but that didn’t matter. The main thing was, he should be able to gain more of her trust, at least enough so he could give her some training.

That could be enough for her to exercise control so she would stop being so damn visible to those who had magic sensitivity and enough interest in the Atlanta area to check out new anomalies. Helping Molly helped him.

He found himself smiling again. They hadn’t talked that long, but she had still managed to evoke a surprising number of emotions. And with every change in her inflection, he could imagine her expressions.

She was busy and preoccupied with her own problems, but she wasn’t letting any of that dull her sharp mind. Yes, she was beautiful, but beauty was overrated in these modern times. A woman with her kind of intelligence was sexy as hell, and he liked that. He liked her very much.

But that was irrelevant. He had no place in his life for nice people—not with the kind of damage he intended to inflict and the danger that came along with it.

It took some effort, but eventually he put her out of his mind and got back to work.

__________________________________

Copyright: 2019 Teddy Harrison LLC

All rights reserved

WANT MORE AMERICAN WITCH NOW?

You can buy the full novel from my webstore now, before it’s available from the third-party vendors. If you can’t wait for the whole story, you can buy it today! Just click here to be taken to my webstore.

Or pre-order AMERICAN WITCH at any of these vendors.

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

THANK YOU to all my Patrons!

April 1st marked the launch of my new Patreon page, and I am so pleased with the response! Patreon is allowing me to offer a more immersive fan experience, with behind-the-scenes information and access unlike anything I’ve been able to do before. 

Readers who join my community on Patreon receive a number of perks, including behind the scenes information, exclusive material, early access to covers and new stories, and so much more. And as an added bonus, the first 60 people to join me on Patreon at the $3 tier or higher will receive an exclusive, limited-edition American Witch themed cosmetic item! These items–handcrafted soap, perfume, and eyeshadow courtesy of Dragonsworn on Etsy–are in limited supply and going fast! If you haven’t already, check out my Patreon page for more information today!

My most heartfelt thanks goes to everyone who’s already joined my community on Patreon. You’re all amazing and I’m thrilled to enter into this journey together!

Here are all of the fabulous Patrons who’ve joined the community already: 

Akemi B.

alh_2k

Bonnie Vosburg

Brooke Saepoo

Chelci Winkels

Chloe Merritt

Christina Clinton

Courtney Lewis

Dana Miller

Deserie Campos

Doro Victor

Drina Miller

Elie Kelly

Holly

Jo Hobbs

Judy B Taylor

kayla keith

Kellie Byrd

Kim DuPre

Lady Heather

Linda Wasko

Lori

Lorrian Bailey

Mary Jo Schweiger

Mary Kay O’Keefe

Melissa Schweitzer

Nancy McManama

Oscar Leon Robbins

Patricia Sparrazza

Rebecca Lysohir

Sarah Torney

Sharon Belko

Sheila Melo

Sheryl Beesley

Shirely Greenwald

Thai Kaiser

Valerie Steinwart

Xahne

Yolanda Fletcher

Thank you all!

AMERICAN WITCH: Friday Snippets (5)

Happy Friday!

Here’s today’s Friday Snippet of AMERICAN WITCH for you! This snippet begins Chapter Four. As always, this is draft material and things are subject to editing (and possibly deletion), so please don’t share.

Happy Reading

Thea

WANT AMERICAN WITCH NOW?

You can buy the full novel from my webstore now, before it’s available from the third-party vendors. If you can’t wait for the whole story, you can buy it today! Just click here to be taken to my webstore.

Or pre-order AMERICAN WITCH at any of these vendors.

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

__________________________________

AMERICAN WITCH

Chapter 4

Austin called out again sharply. She knew without looking that he was racing after her.

Bursting out of the nearest exit, she darted west and immediately ducked behind a six-foot-tall potted plant by the hotel entrance. A moment later, Austin raced past.

She slipped back into the hotel, ran to the elevators, and jabbed the Up button repeatedly. Her feint wouldn’t confuse Austin for long. As soon as he looked around and realized she wasn’t anywhere to be seen, he would head back inside.

It didn’t matter. All she wanted was to get to her suite and slam the door on the world.

The elevator doors opened. She darted in, punched the button for her floor, then held her finger on the Close button. As the elevator doors slowly closed, she saw Austin race into her line of sight. Their eyes met for an instant before the doors shut.

Damn it! Now he would be able to trace what floor she got off on.

Quickly she punched several other buttons. Then, with a shaking hand, she pinched the back of her neck.

Even if he managed to narrow down which floor she was on, there were a lot of suites and rooms on each level. He couldn’t know which room she was in. He could knock on every door, but if he did, she didn’t have to answer. And the suite had a strong security door. He wouldn’t get into her space unless she let him. And she wasn’t going to let him.

When she reached her floor, she jogged to her suite and let herself in. Then she threw the latch and double-checked to make sure the door was locked.

Triple-checked.

Unable to help herself, she went over the same motions again and again.Latch, door, lock. Latch, door, lock. Latch, door, lock.I have to stop this, she thought, watching her hands as though they belonged to a stranger.

Her phone rang.

The phone that she had turned off.

Feeling hot and numb at once, she reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She remembered turning it off. She distinctly remembered it.

Josiah’s name appeared on the screen.

She hadn’t entered his contact information into her phone. It should have shown up as an unknown number.

Moving on unsteady legs, she walked into the kitchenette, opened the microwave, and threw the phone inside. After slamming the door shut, she walked into the bathroom, braced her hands on the sink. Then she looked in the mirror.

She couldn’t see herself clearly. Tears were streaming down her face, and the lightning flashes had appeared at the edge of her vision again. She didn’t trust herself, and she really didn’t want to hurt anybody.

Wiping her cheeks, she told the woman in the mirror, “You’re going to be all right. I don’t know how, but you are. It’s going to be okay.”

Because someone needed to say that to her even if she couldn’t feel it.

Somehow everything was going to be okay.

* * *

Josiah’s phone rang as he sped toward Molly’s hotel. Glancing at the dashboard of his Audi TT coupe, he saw the caller was Anson, so he punched the button to answer.

Anson’s voice came over the speaker system. “Do you feel that?”

“Of course I do,” he said grimly as he gunned around a street corner at a yellow light.

“Maria’s picking up on it all the way from Birmingham, which is over two hours away. Is that Molly Sullivan?”

“Yes. I want you, Richard, and Henry to leave Atlanta. Meet up with Maria in Birmingham.”

Anson swore. “Fine. For how long?”

“Let’s play it by ear. Steven’s still in New York, so he should be all right.”

“We can’t sit in limbo forever.”

“I know, but we also can’t afford to take unnecessary chances, and we’re not ready for a confrontation. Just leave for now and hold tight. I’ll get back to you soon with further instructions.” He punched the button that ended the call.

She was spewing chaotic Power again, and this time it wasn’t a brief spurt. Chernobyl was having another meltdown. And he didn’t have her cell number, so he cast a spell to make a phone call go through to her, but she didn’t pick up.

When he’d felt her Power surge, he had just finished putting in an appearance at his official apartment and was en route to the safe house. As luck would have it, he was only a mile away from the hotel. The chaotic Power lay in that direction.

He arrived a few minutes later. Whipping into a parking space on the street, he cast a cloaking spell over himself, put his phone on vibrate, and raced into the hotel.

Finding Molly’s floor ended up being easy. He made his best guess, and when he exited the elevator on the eleventh floor, he could tell he’d gone too far up, so he loped down the stairs until he stopped on the landing of the ninth floor.

This was definitely the floor. He pushed through the stairwell door.

There were dozens of rooms and suites on each floor, but her energy signature shone like a beacon in his mind’s eye. Unerringly, he turned right.

Down the hall, Austin Sullivan stood, talking to one of the hotel guests. Josiah felt an urge to violence as he came to a standstill. At the party, Molly and Sullivan had hurled nasty things to each other, but Molly’s words had come from a place of truth and deep hurt while Sullivan had deliberately chosen to be cruel.

He was a snake, and Josiah would have no problem crushing him under his heel. But violence wouldn’t solve Josiah’s bigger issue, so he checked the impulse and coldly watched the exchange between Sullivan and a middle-aged woman.

Sullivan said, “I’m sorry again for bothering you.”

“No problem.” The woman in the doorway smiled. “I hope you find your wife.”

“Thank you, so do I. This whole thing has been a misunderstanding.” The snake gave the woman a charming smile.

Sullivan’s presence had to be the cause of Molly’s meltdown. She must know he was here. Josiah tossed around ideas for how to get rid of the other man without revealing his presence. Perhaps a panic spell would work.

General panic spells were interesting in how they affected the unwary and unaware. They caused the victim’s mind to supply the reason for the panic by elevating their own phobias and fears.

Yes, that would do. After the woman had shut her door, Josiah tossed out the casting.

Sullivan had started walking to the next door, toward Josiah. When the spell hit, he slowed to a stop and glanced around. One corner of Josiah’s mouth tilted up in a hard smile as the other man frowned and the conscious charm in his handsome expression transformed into anxiety.

Maybe Sullivan was recalculating the risk of drawing attention to himself by knocking on doors. Maybe he would think about what trouble he might get in if a guest complained. Or maybe he had an irrational fear of carpet. Josiah didn’t fucking care as long as the spell drove him to leave the hotel as quickly as possible.

Sullivan paused, clearly struggling with himself. Then one of the hotel doors opened and a couple stepped out, giving him a curious glance as they walked past, and he broke. He pushed past them and headed for the elevators.

Leisurely, Josiah stepped out of his way and remained flattened against the wall until the couple had left. Then he thrust the other people out of his mind and headed toward Molly’s room.

He located her chaotic Power at the third door from the end of the hallway, opposite where Sullivan had talked with the woman. Logic said Sullivan wouldn’t have been heading back toward the bank of elevators if he hadn’t already gone down the other side of the hall first.

So he had to have already knocked on Molly’s door. Josiah imagined her looking out the peephole to find her ex-husband standing outside. No wonder she was stressed.

She hadn’t picked up when he had called, so he knew she wouldn’t welcome him standing at her door either. He placed a hand on the door’s smooth surface and scanned the interior. Her distress beat at his senses.

Okay. He didn’t dare cast a calming spell in her direction. As subtle as they could be, she had already picked up on the other subtle influence spells he had cast, and she wouldn’t welcome another one right now.

He only had one real option. Digging deep for his own Power, he cast a wider cloaking spell—one big enough to encompass Molly’s space on the other side of the door and also conceal him from other guests. Carefully, he built the spell around them so that none of his magic brushed against Molly’s.

As the giant bubble formed, he held his breath.

Nothing happened. She didn’t charge out spewing accusations. The hallway remained empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, he slid into a sitting position in front of her door. Then he pulled out his phone and sent a group text to Anson and the others.

How is that? Better?

Their replies came back in the affirmative.

Anson asked in the group conversation: Do you still want us to evacuate?

Yes, he replied. They had invested too much time and care in entering Atlanta under the radar of their dangerous prey, and he didn’t want to blow it by being careless now. I’ll keep watch here. If nothing happens over the next two days, it should be safe enough for you to return.

Roger that.

After the exchange, silence settled in. Molly believed she was alone, and her internal crisis continued. This could be a long damn night, but at least maintaining the cloaking spell would cost less strength than the initial casting. He relaxed against the door, forearms braced on upraised knees and phone clasped in one hand, but he didn’t receive any further texts.

As it turned out, her upheaval didn’t last all night. She didn’t have the training or experience to sustain a large output of energy. After another hour her chaotic Power began to subside. As soon as it had lowered to a level that he deemed safe enough, he released the cloaking spell and stood.

Molly, Molly, he thought. What a spectacular inconvenience you’ve turned out to be.

__________________________________

Copyright: 2019 Teddy Harrison LLC

All rights reserved

WANT MORE AMERICAN WITCH NOW?

You can buy the full novel from my webstore now, before it’s available from the third-party vendors. If you can’t wait for the whole story, you can buy it today! Just click here to be taken to my webstore.

Or pre-order AMERICAN WITCH at any of these vendors.

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

AMERICAN WITCH: Friday Snippets (4)

Happy Friday!

Here’s today’s Friday Snippet of AMERICAN WITCH for you! This snippet concludes Chapter Three. As always, this is draft material and things are subject to editing (and possibly deletion), so please don’t share.

Hope you enjoy!

~ Thea

WANT AMERICAN WITCH NOW?

You can buy the full novel from my webstore now, before it’s available from the third-party vendors. If you can’t wait for the whole story, you can buy it today! Just click here to be taken to my webstore.

Or pre-order AMERICAN WITCH at any of these vendors.

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

__________________________________

AMERICAN WITCH

Chapter 3 (continued)

Back in her hotel room, Molly threw the card on the table and spent the rest of the evening taking tags off her new purchases and putting them away.

Josiah claimed to have removed the spell on the card, and she couldn’t sense anything, but it gleamed against the dark wood as if enticing her to pick it up again.

She had felt overwhelmed before and talking to him was the equivalent of having anothertidal wave wash over her head, only this one was bigger than the first. Now she felt so far underwater she had no idea how to swim to the surface.

As he had painted the picture of a possible future in his compelling, rich voice, she could see everything play out like a movie.

A life with no limits. Hadn’t part of her always yearned for that? She had made her choices and she had tried to stick to them. God, she had tried.

Austin had been her career. She had done everything from picking up dry cleaning to helping him make and foster the right connections. She had poured everything into his law practice, into building their life together.

In an age filled with takeout and professional catering, people had relished her sophisticated, home-cooked cuisine. She knew how to talk to legal professionals, and she had prided herself on being warm and welcoming to everyone.

But she hadn’t been loved or valued. She had been someone to get under control. With a fierceness that made her shake, she wanted to hurt Austin the way he had hurt her over the years. She wanted to make him cry like a baby. And wouldn’t it serve him right to see her thrive while he suffered?

Josiah had said she could be powerful in her own right. Buy her own fashionable house in an upscale neighborhood. Buy multiple houses in different parts of the world. She could have all the lovers she wanted and more money than she could ever need.

And while she’d been blessed with good genes and still looked youthful, over the past few years a couple of delicate lines had appeared at the corners of her mouth and eyes, and her blond hair had lightened at the temples. She hadn’t gone gray, not yet, but she would if she didn’t do something to hide it. Or maybe she could do something to stop it from happening entirely?

But something felt off. She had to pick through her reactions to figure out what it was.

For one thing, she didn’t trust herself right now. Normally she wasn’t vengeful, but she was too angry and hurt, and what sounded good in this moment might turn out to be just as toxic as what she was escaping.

And Josiah was sexy. Very sexy. She felt too raw to be comfortable with how part of her had liked it when he’d touched her. The gentle rasp of his callused fingers against her skin had been distinctly pleasurable. It had been a very long time since she had felt simple desire.

Something else made her uneasy. He had been too calculating, too pushy. At some point during their talk, he had come to a decision and had zeroed in on it like a heat-seeking missile. Powerful men did that. She had watched it happen before, and he had already said he had ambitions.

And even if everything he had told her had been the truth, she wasn’t willing to become the consequence of another powerful man’s decisions.

After settling that in her mind, she deleted all the texts, emails and phone messages clogging her phone.

Some were from her mother, and she bit back a sigh. Molly couldn’t put off going to see her any longer. She would far rather communicate everything in an email, but she should tell her mother what had happened in person.

Or at least they needed to talk about how she had left Austin. Her mother was the quintessential conservative and had consistently voted against any political platform that promoted the interests of the Elder Races or magic users. It would be beyond disastrous to talk about witches, spells, and suddenly acquiring Power.

Ugh, ugh, ugh. Tomorrow was going to suck. Grimly, she got ready for bed, and later that night she dreamed again.

When she came to awareness, she was sitting at the butcher-block table again while the woman stood at the counter, chopping herbs. This time the woman wore jeans and a black T-shirt, and her graying hair had been piled into a knot on top of her head. Molly glanced out the window. There was no sign of the shaggy blond man. Instead, rain lashed against the glass panes. A storm was rolling in.

“You’re a metaphor, aren’t you?” She huddled into herself. “Something I’ve created. You, this kitchen, and everything in it—it’s some kind of message I’m trying to tell myself.”

The woman’s voice was gentle. “Because everything is all about you?”

“No, of course not! But I’m making this dream up. Right?”

The woman shrugged. “If you say so.”

Uneasily, she shifted and rubbed her bare arms. “If I’m not making it up… You put a spell on me to find you. Why?”

“Seemed like a good idea at the time.” Chop-chop-chop. The herbs smelled good and fresh. Molly recognized the pungent, distinct scent of sage.

“What if something happens?” she persisted. “What if the spell breaks? What if I don’t want to come? What if I don’t want to be controlled?”

“The spell will work if you want it to.” The woman gave her a reassuring smile. “And it won’t if you don’t. It’s as simple as that. You’ll find me when you’re ready. Or not. It’s entirely up to you.”

Molly muttered, “I don’t find that at all reassuring.”

Throwing back her head, the woman laughed while outside the window, lightning flashed. Then the scene fell away, leaving her even more in the dark than before.

She woke with another headache, and Sunday went from bad to worse.

Early in the morning, she set up the new laptop and portable printer she had purchased. Then she organized the contents of the satchel that contained everything from their safe and started scanning files.

As she worked, she found a set of papers in a folder she’d never seen before. They looked like copies of bank statements, but they were from no bank she knew. And the numbers listed were astronomical—in the millions.

Millions she’d had no idea existed.

A cold chill raised goose bumps along her skin. As a partner, Austin made mid-six figures annually, which was quite a fine income. They owned their house and hadn’t worried about money for a long time.

She could afford to stay in a comfortable hotel, buy nice clothes, and eat good food. She could also afford to take time as she figured out her next steps, and she felt extremely grateful to have her needs met while dealing with the emotional fallout from the end of her marriage.

But those numbers… She couldn’t imagine how he might have gained access to so much money.

She didn’t have time to obsess over it. Quickly, she organized everything else, finished an Excel spreadsheet listing all the assets that had been in the safe, and emailed the spreadsheet to herself along with a zip file of the scanned documents.

Afterward, she showered and braced to face her mother.

Visiting her mother was always like taking a trip into the past. Gloria Addison still lived where she had when her husband Samuel had been alive. The old, spacious house was on the National Register of Historic Places and had been in the family for several generations.

As Molly parked, the front door opened. Gloria’s silver hair had been meticulously arranged, and she wore a stylish gray-and-pink dress with matching low-heeled shoes.

“I wondered when you might finally show up.” Gloria’s voice was chilly, her back ramrod straight. Both were indicators of how the visit would go.

Molly bit back a sigh and walked into the house. “Hello, Mother.”

Gloria led the way to the kitchen, and Molly followed. She slid into a seat at the table while Gloria put together two salads.

While she worked, Gloria said, “Austin called me yesterday.”

Trying to remain calm, Molly rubbed her temples. Gloria had always approved of Austin. The fact that he had gotten in touch with her first put Molly even farther into the doghouse. “What did he say?”

“He was looking for you.” Gloria pulled salad dressing out of the fridge. “He thought you might be staying here. He said you’d had a fight, but I already knew that. Melinda found out. Her son Graham is dating one of the Johnson girls that works at Austin’s firm.”

“I wondered if you’d heard something.” Again, she lied. She had to find a way to stop that. Where was her authentic self when Molly needed her the most?

Her mother brought the salads over along with silverware and the dressings, then sat to eat. “So, have youtalked to Austin?”

“No.” She pushed the plate away.

“Well, don’t you think it’s time you did? You’ve had your fight, but it’s over. Now it’s time to move on. He’s worried about you, and he’s hurt.”

No mention of Molly’s feelings. No question about whether or not she might be hurt.

She asked, “Did Melinda tell you what the fight was about?”

Gloria speared a small, bite-sized piece of ham. “It doesn’t matter. It’s all in the past. The important thing is that you work on fixing your marriage and look to the future.”

Her blood pressure was rising with every passing minute. “I’m not going back to Austin. I’m filing for divorce.”

Gloria’s eyes flashed up. She set down her fork and knife. “Impossible. You can’t. He’s the breadwinner, and he has been for the past fifteen years. You haven’t done anything in your life except support him.”

“Yes, by all means.” Her jaw angled out. “Let’s ignore the fact that being a successful law partner’s wife can be a full-time job in itself, or that I fundraised almost three hundred thousand dollars last year for a charity just by working as a part-time volunteer.”

“None of that paid you a living wage.” Gloria pointed at her. “You’ll take him back if you know what’s good for you. You’ll never be able to get a job that will give you the lifestyle you’ve grown accustomed to.”

Her temper started to bubble over. “I can’t stand the thought of being in the same zip code with Austin, let alone trying to live in the same house or, my God, sleeping in the same bed again. The marriage has been over for a long, long time. I’m meeting with an attorney tomorrow. The money will work out somehow.”

Gloria’s gaze fired with an angry light. “I did not raise you to quit on your marriage just when things get tough.”

“When things get tough?” she repeated incredulously. “Mom, he cheatedon me.In my own bed.He cheated on me repeatedly—and then he was verbally abusive about it. The only thing I regret is staying with him as long as I did when, deep down, I knew better.”

“So he cheated on you,” Gloria said bitterly. “Men cheat. It’s what they do. You can’t expect to find another man who will treat you any differently, and you’re too old to start over. You have no real job experience, and your degree is eighteen years old. If you leave him, you’re throwing your life away with both hands.”

Halfway through Gloria’s speech, Molly realized that once again her mother wasn’t talking about her. Gloria was talking about herself.

“Mom, what are you saying? Did Dad cheat on you?”

Gloria looked down at her napkin as she folded it precisely. “Your father and I had our share of problems, but that’s none of your business. He loved you, and he wanted the best for you, as do I. You’re making a huge mistake, Molly Ann. Go back to Austin while you can.”

Talking to her mother was as draining as she’d known it would be. “We’re not going to see eye to eye on this. You’ll just have to trust that I know how to look out for myself.”

But Gloria remained unconvinced, and eventually Molly gave up and made her escape. In the car, she checked her phone. There were more messages, several from Austin. She deleted them and started her car.

As she approached the city, the Atlanta skyline came into view. The tops of two of the buildings were tipped with gold, and as she drew nearer, lights illuminated the floors of several of the towers, sparkling like diamonds.

In the rosy gentle light of the deepening spring evening, the skyline looked like a fabled city in a fairy tale, a place that someone might fight with everything they had to reach, where one might hope to find brains, a heart, some courage, or to discover the way to go home.

As for the wizard… There was only one person that could be. Josiah. But he was too magnetic and powerful in a way she had never known before, both personally and magically. His dark, polished essence frightened as much as it enticed her.

She could feel the urge to go to him, and it disturbed her. He tugged at the weakest, most vulnerable part in her right when she needed to find her strength, not collapse into old, negative patterns of behavior.

Consumed by her thoughts, she parked the Escalade in the hotel parking garage and made her way to the lobby’s bank of elevators. All she wanted to do was take a shower and put her feet up, maybe watch some mindless television and then go to bed.

“Molly!”

She had been watching the floor as she walked. At the sound of Austin’s voice, she jerked her head up.

He strode across the lobby toward her, handsome face hard and eyes glittering.

Her mind launched into frantic speculation. How had he found her? Had he used the firm’s private investigator? Or—damn it, she had used her credit card. All he’d had to do was check their bank’s website.

Whatever. It didn’t matter. The expression on his face, along with the tight, fast way that he moved, told her everything she needed to know. He was the angriest, iciest she had ever seen.

Another quick glance told her that nobody was around to witness what happened next. Earlier the hotel had been busy, but by an odd trick of circumstance, now traffic was at a minimum. And nobody stood at the concierge desk or the check-in desk.

She didn’t pause to question her instincts. Instead, she bolted.

__________________________________

Copyright: 2019 Teddy Harrison LLC

All rights reserved

WANT MORE AMERICAN WITCH NOW?

You can buy the full novel from my webstore now, before it’s available from the third-party vendors. If you can’t wait for the whole story, you can buy it today! Just click here to be taken to my webstore.

Or pre-order AMERICAN WITCH at any of these vendors.

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

AMERICAN WITCH: Friday Snippets (3)

Hello everyone!

Here’s today’s Friday Snippet of AMERICAN WITCH for you! As always, this is draft material and things are subject to editing and possibly deletion, so please don’t share.

Hope you enjoy!

~ Thea

Pre-order AMERICAN WITCH now!

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

__________________________________

AMERICAN WITCH

Chapter Three

Josiah watched Molly Sullivan’s beautiful, dazed face in fascination. She really hadn’t had any idea about what was happening to her or what she was capable of.

“You mean me.” Molly seemed barely able to articulate as she slid back onto the barstool. “You can’t be serious. This can’t be happening.”

“I’m deadly serious, and of course it’s happening.” He sat on the stool beside her again and swiveled to face her. “Some part of you has to know I’m telling the truth.”

Casting another glance at the shimmering barrier, she held herself rigid. Her expression was unpredictable, as if she might bolt at any minute. He couldn’t tell if she was panicking, but she probably was.

An unpleasant thought occurred to him. Those with magic abilities tended to congregate in magic-tolerant areas, such as close to the heart of the Elder Races demesnes, which existed overlaid with human geography. There were seven demesnes in the United States alone and many others scattered across the globe.

If they didn’t live close to an Elder Races demesne, they often chose to live close to the crossover passageways that had been created when time and space buckled during the earth’s formation. The crossover passageways led to magic-intense Other lands, where time moved differently, modern combustible technologies didn’t work, and the sun shone with a different light.

But the magic-intolerant, or those who had xenophobic tendencies, tended to congregate in other areas, away from the demesnes and crossover passageways. The United States had seen a backlash of opinion against the Elder Races or anyone with magical talent, and Atlanta wasn’t an area known for tolerance.

By far, most of the city’s demographic was made up of plain old nonmagical humanity, and the area’s voting majority was not pro-magic. Molly was going to live a miserable life if she couldn’t come to terms with what she was experiencing.

“Look at me,” he commanded.

Her widened gaze flew back to his.

“Something is happening to you.” He leaned forward. “Maybe it was started by the trauma from your husband’s betrayal, or maybe it’s been happening over the past several months. Inexplicable occurrences… things like car breakdowns or power outages. You might be having strange dreams or seeing visions of things that can’t possibly exist. Am I right?”

Her blank expression fractured, and her lips trembled. She whispered, “It’s been a couple of months now.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. She was turning out to be surprise upon surprise, all of it entirely unwelcome.

After a moment, he told her, “When you broke that vase on Thursday, I thought you were venting your rage in a way that wouldn’t hurt anybody. It never occurred to me that you had no idea what you were capable of or what you’d done.” He couldn’t stand to look at her devastated face any longer, so he pressed the tumbler of scotch into her hands.

She blew out an unsteady breath and accepted it. In a quick move, she tossed back the rest of the drink. “I felt it,” she confessed hoarsely. “I saw sparks at the edges of my vision, and I knewsomething had shot out of my body. And then the vase shattered.”

“Yes.” He nodded. Obeying an impulse he didn’t stop to define, he touched her warm, soft skin, rubbing the sensitive spot at her inner elbow with his thumb. “That was you. There isn’t one in a hundred thousand people like you. Not one in a million, possibly ten million. You hold an incredibly rare Power, and you’re just now coming into it.”

Carefully, she pulled away to run her fingers through her hair. “But this doesn’t make any sense,” she muttered. “We don’t have witches in my family history, or any mention of magic whatsoever. We’re just your ordinary, garden-variety humans.”

“You may not have witches that you know of,” he replied drily. “That doesn’t mean you didn’t have any. Witches have been known to conceal their true natures so they can coexist peacefully with magic-intolerant families and communities.”

He watched his last statement slam home, and her expression filled with dismay. “But why me? Why now?”

He shrugged. “I don’t think anybody knows. Everyone’s different. Sometimes witches manifest early, from the time they’re toddlers. Some come into their Power when they hit puberty. Others come into it later in life through personal trauma, like the death of a spouse or child, or a strong life shift like menopause.”

“But what about the old family dynasties in the witches demesne—in Louisville, right?” she asked. “They seem to have witches in every generation, or at least that’s what I’ve read.”

“Those families have carefully married and bred to strengthen their magical aptitude, but that isn’t any guarantee. Sometimes even the most Powerful families in the witches demesne can produce null offspring.” After pausing, he continued more slowly, “I didn’t have any history of known witches in my family either, but many years ago I was in an accident that put me into a coma for two weeks. When I came out of it, I was permanently changed.”

She dug the heels of her hands into her eyes. “Is there any way to stop this?” she asked. “Any way to turn it off?”

He laughed, genuinely amused. “Of course not. Why on earth would you want to?”

“Maybe because it’s scary as hell?” she retorted. “I don’t want to blow fuses or have my car break down randomly, or possibly hurt someone without meaning to.”

He sobered. “No, definitely not. You don’t want to hurt someone by accident. Everything you do, you want to do with intention.”

She looked more spooked than ever. “But I don’t understand what’s really happening or how to control it.” Her voice rose. “I know nothing. This is the first time anyone has said anything to me about any of this!”

“In some ways you’re a blank slate,” he murmured as he studied her with an assessing gaze. While discovering her had been a massive inconvenience, maybe he could make it work to his advantage. “You’re coming into so much magic it radiates out of you. You’re going to be a very Powerful witch. The only way you can hope to control it is through training.”

“Training.” She leaned forward. “What kind of training?”

The intense kind that reshapes your life. He thought it, but he didn’t say it.

Instead, he replied, “Practice, technique, and spellwork will help you gain control over your own Power. How long that takes is up to you. If you’re dedicated and focused, it will happen quicker.” His gaze narrowed as he considered the idea that had occurred to him. Unlike the other surprises, this one was not entirely unwelcome. “I could teach you.”

“You could?” She looked even more astonished.

He poked harder at the idea. He hadn’t planned on taking a student, and in many ways, it would be a hindrance to his goals, but with the kind of uncontrolled Power she was radiating right now, she was like a human Chernobyl. Unless she gained control over herself, she was going to draw unwanted attention to the area—attention he wasn’t yet ready to face.

“Think of everything we could do.” He studied her as he calculated this new turn of events. “Together, we could become a major force on the Eastern Seaboard if we wanted to—we’d be right up there with the Lord of the Wyr or the Elven High Lord.”

She coughed out a disbelieving laugh. “Become a major force on the Eastern Seaboard? Where the hell did that come from?”

His eyelids lowered to hide his expression. “I have ambitions.”

She shook her head. “My life is in shambles right now. This is too much to take in all at once. I didn’t ask for any of it.”

“You may not have asked for it, but you’ve got it.” He took hold of her hand and gripped her fingers. “With my training and guidance, there’s no limit to what you can do. Doesn’t that appeal to you on some level? Think of it—really take a moment and think.”

She hesitated, clearly snared by his words, and her gaze focused on their hands again.

Turning his voice deep and seductive, he said softly, “You want revenge against your husband for what he did to you? With some discipline, training, and a little work, it’s all yours. You want to be wealthy and powerful? You can achieve it, and it’s easier than you might think.” Obeying the impulse to touch her again, he lifted one hand to brush his fingers against her petal-soft cheek. “Wouldn’t you like to stay as youthful-looking and beautiful as you are now, for as long as possible? Powerful witches can live much longer than the normal human life span. I can show you how.”

Moving as slowly as he had, she pulled her face away from his touch while her gaze never left his.

Giving her a crooked smile, he let his hand fall to his thigh. “I can show you how to get anything your heart desires. Anything. Working together, we can create a new future, the likes of which you can’t even imagine.”

But he had pushed too hard—he knew it the moment the words came out of his mouth. She jerked her hand out of his grip and slid off the barstool.

“This is too much to take in all at once,” she said abruptly. “Thank you for coming to find me and explaining everything. At least I’m not going crazy. I think.”

Josiah straightened to his full height. “You’re welcome, but don’t go just yet. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what you’re going through. You’re bound to have a thousand questions.”

She laughed as she backed away. “That’s a massive understatement. I have no doubt I will.”

“Have dinner with me, and we can talk over everything in more depth.” He advanced close enough to smell the faint, sexy perfume that she wore. By the flickering of her expression, he could tell that she wavered.

She even leaned toward him again, and a slow, triumphant smile widened his lips.

But letting his triumph show was another misstep. Her gaze dropped to his mouth, and she jerked back. “Not tonight. I have too much going on.” She waved the fingers of one hand in a circle beside her temple. “It’s a mess in here. I need to think.”

He cursed inwardly. “You’re making a mistake. You’ll think better if you talk things out. I can explain anything you don’t understand.”

Just when he thought she was going to bolt, she did the exact opposite. She took a step toward him and gave him another level look while her Power flared. “I said no.”

Immediately he backed off and gave her a slight smile. “So you did. Here.” As she watched warily, he reached into his back pocket, pulled out a heavy white card, and handed it to her. “My personal cell phone number. Feel free to call anytime, day or night.”

She hesitated to take it, her reluctance obvious.

An edge entered his voice. “It’s an offer I don’t make to very many people, Molly.”

“No, I’m sure you don’t,” she replied. “Just one thing. Is there a spell on that card?”

Surprise jolted him. He narrowed his eyes. “Why do you ask?”

Her expression turned fierce. “Because you put a spell on this bar to draw me in, didn’t you?”

Another surprise jolted him. “Good question, and a very good observation. Yes, I threw a spell to lure you into the bar, but if you had been strongly inclined to do otherwise, it wouldn’t have worked. It was more like an invitation.” He passed a hand over the card and erased the small spell he had cast on it. “Now this one is gone too.”

Her hand rose and hovered in midair. “What was it?”

“Same type of thing. A small encouragement,” he told her. “A welcome, if you will.”

She studied his expression, clearly questioning the veracity of that, but it didn’t stop her from snatching the card. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He waved his fingers, and the privacy bubble that had surrounded them vanished. “Talk to you soon.”

Giving him a jerky nod, she walked away. Her relief at leaving was so palpable his expression turned wry. Most women didn’t try so hard to get away from him. In fact, most women looked for ways to get closer. Talking to Molly had been a reality check for his ego.

His phone buzzed. Pulling it out of his pocket, he checked the screen. There was a text from Anson. Did you get a chance to talk to the Sullivan woman yet?

Fingers moving rapidly, he replied, Yes.

How’d it go?

Pursing his lips, he considered how to answer, and his mood turned grim. We might be facing trouble before we had expected. You’d better warn the others.

And they weren’t ready for trouble if it decided to show up soon.

Lost in thought, he drove to his apartment in the city. The DA needed to spend some time in his fashionable apartment before anyone noticed his absence and began to ask questions he didn’t want to answer.

__________________________________

Copyright: 2019 Teddy Harrison LLC

All rights reserved

Pre-order AMERICAN WITCH now!

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

AMERICAN WITCH: Friday Snippets (2)

Pre-order AMERICAN WITCH now!

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

Happy Friday!

Here’s today’s snippet of AMERICAN WITCH. 

This section concludes Chapter Two. Please remember, as always when I post snippets of draft work, it’s all subject to change (or even deletion). Anything you read will very likely have typos and grammar issues that will be addressed during the editing process. For that reason, I ask that you don’t post this in other places.

Hope everybody has a good weekend, and you enjoy!

~ Thea

Pre-order AMERICAN WITCH now!

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

__________________________________

AMERICAN WITCH

Chapter Two (continued)

She had a doctor’s appointment after lunch, so she said goodbye to Julia and went in for her checkup. And since she had no idea how often Austin had cheated on her or with whom, she had her doctor run tests for HIV and STDs. Again.

Then she spent the afternoon shopping for the various items she needed. She could have gone back to the house to pick up her own things, but the thought of possibly running into Austin made her feel nauseated and furious. Tiny sparks appeared again at the corner of her vision, and she thought she might stroke out.

Eventually she would have to go back to the house. Probably.

She could technically survive without ever going back, but later on she would regret not picking up the box of childhood mementos and the photos of her late father.

Maybe Julia would go with her and help run interference, or even go in her stead to gather up everything Molly wanted to keep. She hated to involve someone else in her personal drama, but she didn’t think the other woman would mind.

As the afternoon went on, the pleasant buzz from the lunchtime martinis wore off, leaving her feeling headachy and dull.

She headed back to the hotel and stopped at the bellhop desk in the spacious hotel lobby to get her shopping bags delivered to her room. When she turned away, she noticed the doorway that led to the hotel bar.

The open space seemed to beckon invitingly, and she gave in to the impulse to go inside. Maybe the sugar and caffeine from a Coke would banish her hangover.

As she stepped across the threshold from the lobby into the bar, a change occurred that was hard to define. The air felt different—cooler and sharper, full of energy. Her headache vaporized.

If the bar manager could bottle whatever was in the air, he would make a fortune. Inhaling deeply, she straightened her shoulders and looked around.

Dark cherry tables lay scattered over a patterned tile floor. Several of the tables were occupied. The bar itself was made of the same wood as the tables, and light reflected off shelves of colored bottles of liquor and the mirrored wall behind them, making everything seem hard and bright.

A solitary, dark-haired man sat at the bar, his long, folded figure indicating height and broad shoulders. As she glanced at him, he looked up from his drink and into the mirror.

His eyes, yellow like a cat’s in a lean, suntanned face, met hers.

Surprise throbbed a single pulse beat throughout her body. Josiah Mason, Atlanta’s new DA, lounged at the bar as if he owned it. As if he were waiting for something or someone.

Seeing him here, in a place she had unconsciously claimed as her own, brought back the sickened adrenaline from Thursday night. She fought an instinctive urge to bolt.

Leveling a long look at him, she thought, I’ll be damned if I run. She gave him a civil nod and walked to the bar several seats away to settle on a stool and set her purse beside her.

When the bartender came to take her order, all her good intentions to avoid more alcohol vaporized. “I’ll take a single malt scotch. Your best one.”

“We have a twenty-one-year-old Balvenie, will that do?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Yes.”

“You got it.” He slouched away.

While she waited for her drink, she spread her hands flat on the smooth, gleaming wood surface of the bar.

Coincidences happen, she told herself. Don’t look at him again. Look at your hands. People wig out and scream at their husbands at dinner parties all the time. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Austin is the one at fault, not you.

Besides, maybe he won’t recognize you. You look completely different than you did at the party. This is no big deal.

Movement in the mirror caught her attention. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Josiah Mason slid out of his seat with casual grace. He wore jeans and a thin cream sweater that looked like it was cashmere and highlighted his healthy tan. Dark hair swept back from his strong forehead in a long, unruly wave.

He approached. Of course he approached. Her hands clenched. Damn it to hell, why was he ignoring the go awayvibes she threw so strenuously into the air? Anybody with discretion or good sense would avoid her like the plague after witnessing her meltdown.

He was a powerfully built man, and he moved with the sinuous grace of a jaguar. He looked like he could take down any opponent in a championship boxing match. Like he could kill someone if he wanted.

As he neared, she felt the same thing she had sensed on Thursday, that he emitted some kind of dark, intense frequency that made everybody else in the bar appear pale and flat, like paper dolls. This man would re-form reality wherever he went.

Without asking permission, he slid into the empty stool beside her. When the bartender set her drink down, she signed for it, then wrapped both hands around the glass and clutched it as if it were her lifeline. Just stay calm and breathe normally, she thought.

In a low voice, she said, “I am intensely uncomfortable with you coming to join me.”

“And I am positive you will survive it.” His voice was deeper than she had expected. With a small jolt, she realized this was the first time she had heard him speak. “We haven’t been properly introduced.”

“I know who you are.” She took a big gulp of the Balvenie. Fruity and smoky, the scotch glided down her throat as smoothly as a hunting knife sliding into a sheath. Warmth suffused her middle, spreading outward like a fresh pool of blood. She had turned unexpectedly morbid. “People call you hot shit, or so I’ve heard.”

That probably shouldn’t have slipped out of her mouth. Day drinking wreaked havoc on impulse control.

As she watched in the mirror, one corner of his long mouth tilted up. He didn’t have yellow eyes so much as amber. They seemed brighter when the light hit them just right.

“I prefer Josiah.” His strong throat muscles worked as he took a swallow of his own drink. It was something clear and bubbly on ice with a slice of lime, probably a gin and tonic, or vodka. Or maybe it was soda water. He didn’t look like the kind of man who would enjoy losing control to outside influences.

“When I walked in here, it looked like you were waiting for someone.” She took another swallow of her scotch. “Josiah.”

His voice turned cold. “Don’t be coy, Molly. It doesn’t suit you.”

Wait, what?

Sudden caution caused her to tense. He couldn’t mean that he had been waiting for her. Could he? If so, that was insane, ridiculous. How could he have known that she was going to walk into the bar on impulse?

A chill ran over her skin. Had he been looking for her? If so, how had he found her? And why?

She realized she knew next to nothing about the man sitting beside her. Matching his tone with her own coldness, she replied, “How can you possibly know what does or does not suit me?”

“I came to apologize.” He leaned his elbows on the bar. “When I cast a spell of finding, I didn’t sense any witches of significant Power in Atlanta, which was one of the reasons why I moved here. If I had known you were here, I would never have intruded into your territory. Now that I’m here, I’m hoping you and I can come to some agreement about coexisting in the same city.”

Spell of finding… What the fuck?

Witch.

The word reverberated in her head, drowning out the music and the sounds of nearby conversation. Carefully, she set her glass of scotch on the bar, reached for her purse, and began to slide off her stool.

“I have no earthly idea what you’re talking about,” she enunciated to the calm, sane-looking lunatic who sat beside her. “You have me confused with someone else. Please excuse me.”

Swiveling with a speed that took her by surprise, he stared at her as if she were the lunatic. The dark slants of his eyebrows rose, and he began to smile, making him look more dangerous than ever.

“You have no idea?” he repeated. “You. Have. No. Idea.”

“Okay, nice talking to you.” She backed away. “You have a good night now.”

He said something swift and unintelligible. The words were strange, perhaps in some foreign language, and the sound sizzled through the air like broiling steak.

A shimmering, transparent barrier sprang up around her and Josiah, separating them from the rest of the bar. All other sounds cut off, and suddenly it was so silent she could hear her own quickened breathing. She stared around her, wild-eyed.

He had created it. She knew he had. She could sense the connection between the strange words and the barrier, and how it had all originated from him.

How could she feel that? How had he created it? Would it hurt her if she touched it? Was she trapped here, unable to leave?

With a smile, Josiah walked up until he stood very close, inside her personal space. The light hit his eyes just right, making them flare with lambent color. Shaking, she stared up at him. His body heat warmed her chilled skin.

Watching her intently, he put his hand on her forearm and slid long fingers down to her hand. Calluses rasped her skin. He closed his hand carefully around hers and lifted it. She tensed to resist yet didn’t.

He took their combined hands and pushed them gently through the barrier. She flinched as her skin came into contact with it. It felt slightly cold, almost like a soap bubble. She stared as their hands passed through harmlessly.

“There’s no reason to be afraid. It won’t hurt you.” His tone had lowered, to either accommodate their proximity or the intense silence that enfolded them. “It’s a privacy spell. You’re the only one here with the ability to see or sense it. Nobody else is paying any attention to us, and now they can’t hear a word we say to each other.”

“How did you do that?” But she already knew. He had cast the spell with those strange-sounding words.

“I can show you, if you like, but not if you run away.”

She only realized he was still touching her when he slid his hand back up her arm, grasped her elbow, and urged her back to the bar.

“Sit and drink your scotch, although we should be opening a bottle of champagne. It’s not every day one runs into an awakening witch.”

__________________________________

Copyright: 2019 Teddy Harrison LLC

All rights reserved

Pre-order AMERICAN WITCH now!

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

Patreon Page – Starting in April

What is Patreon? Patreon is a very cool initiative. To paraphrase creator Issa Rae, it’s a means by which I can create a membership program to fund the creation of new content and provide exclusive perks for supporters. Developing a Patreon page will allow me to remain creatively independent and develop a closer relationship with enthusiastic readers.

Patreon won’t be for everybody, and that’s okay! I’m still going to be writing my books and publishing them as usual. And I’m still going to be producing them in every format I possibly can to provide readers with the widest buying choices possible. But for some people, this is going to be a great fit– and you are going to love the opportunity that Patreon will give us to explore new things.

So, why am I setting up a Patreon page, you might ask?

There are multiple reasons. There’s a need, there’s creative
desire, and then there’s community.

First, as a writer, I am a microbusiness of one, and in the state I currently reside in, I’m barred from getting reputable health insurance. I must pay out of pocket for all of my healthcare needs, and since I have an autoimmune condition, this is not a situation I can take lightly. Also, writing and self-publishing is an expensive business. For one example, the translation costs for one book in one language cost thousands of dollars, so there is a hefty overhead to my job.

Secondly, if enough readers jump on the crowd sourcing bandwagon, there are some fun things we would like to try to develop, including – perhaps – short videos (NOT live action, at least definitely not at first!). How grand could this get? Where could this go? Well, we don’t know. My assistant and I have never had a Patreon account page before. But as someone who works in a creative profession, I can tell you I have a very fertile imagination.

And third, we intend to develop a community of enthusiastic readers. If you like the idea of supporting one of your favorite artists, worldbuilding extras, exclusive early access to short stories, and the other rewards we’ve created, you’ll really enjoy what we’ve got planned for you.

So, there are many reasons for creating this Patreon page.
This is an excellent way for me to create a “second job” for myself to cover
those expensive overhead and healthcare costs, and a way for all of us to enjoy
ourselves while we do it.

Like I said, we’ve never done this before, so we’re excited and we have big dreams but no real-life experience. We’re bound to make mistakes, and we expect to have to fiddle with the reward tiers until we get things right. I also don’t have any end date in sight for the Patreon page. Like anything else, if we get enough support it will fuel us to keep going.

Starting Patreon is a little like deciding to take a road
trip without an end destination in mind. We want to go for the sake of going
and see where the journey takes us. I invite you to come along for the ride,
and pack your sense of humor and adventure, because we’re going to have a lot
of fun.

We’re launching my Patreon page at the beginning of April. This is no joke.

AMERICAN WITCH: Friday Snippets (1)

Pre-order AMERICAN WITCH now!

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

Happy Friday!

Starting today, I’m going to post snippets from AMERICAN WITCH every Friday through release day on April 29, 2019. They’ll be around 2,000 words or so long, with the understanding that I’ll break whenever there seems to be a good place in the narrative.

I shared an early version of chapter 1 back in December, as a holiday treat for readers. If you haven’t yet read that or need a refresher, click here to read the first chapter.

Please remember, as always when I post snippets of draft work, it’s all subject to change (or even deletion). Anything you read will very likely have typos and grammar issues that will be addressed during the editing process. For that reason, I ask that you don’t post this in other places.

Happy reading!

Thea

Pre-order AMERICAN WITCH now!

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

__________________________________

AMERICAN WITCH

Chapter Two

Hours later, Molly had checked into a hotel suite and unpacked what she had stuffed into her suitcases, such as it was.

She hadn’t been as clear thinking as she’d thought. She had packed her toothbrush but hadn’t grabbed a tube of toothpaste. She had swept her cosmetics into a bag, but her facial cleanser had been sitting by her sink and she’d missed it.

She didn’t have the Xanax. She had packed a single shoe, not a pair, but at least she had the athletic sneakers she was wearing. And she had forgotten to grab any of her bras. She had her bathrobe, jeans and T-shirts, a light jacket, and a dove-gray two-piece suit to go with her single shoe.

At least she’d grabbed the most important things. She tossed the leather satchel full of the contents from the safe onto the table, unexamined. Then the fury that had propelled her forward ebbed, and her emotional landscape crashed.

A single comfort existed. It felt good to be somewhere Austin couldn’t find her, existing in the cool silence of a strange place. Temporary as it was, this was her space, and she finally felt like she could breathe again.

Calling the concierge desk, she requested an overnight bag of toiletries, then she called room service to order a dinner she didn’t think she could eat along with a bottle of wine that she had every intention of drinking.

After that, she wandered through the rooms, unable to sit or focus. She felt torn in two, as if the old Molly was starting to rip away from the person who now lived inside her skin, while bits and pieces of the scene at the party replayed in her head.

Jesus, she thought. The things we hurled at each other.

I am nota frigid bitch. I did not deserve any of this.

But Austin’s words had burrowed inside like poisonous worms, causing tissue damage in all her most vulnerable places, and as she looked out the window at the impenetrable night, the doubtful thoughts wouldn’t stop.

Did I really make him feel like he had to earn affection from me? she wondered. Did I really portion it out and make my love conditional, like my mom did with me? Or did he fire that salvo because he knew it was the one thing that would hurt the most?

Her breathing roughened, and tears burned at the back of her eyes until her attention snagged on the one anomaly from the whole debacle.

The vase. How had it broken? No one had been standing anywhere near it.

Why do I feel like… maybe I did that?

I’m not crazy. I’m not. Something came out of me. What was that indefinable, invisible thing?

And why did that man look at me with such a knowing expression? Russell called him Josiah. He must be the new DA. Why did he tip an imaginary hat to me? It’s almost as if he also knew I broke the vase. Which is patently impossible. Isn’t it?

She pressed her hands over her eyes, remembering the sparks of light at the edges of her sight and the burst of energy that had shot out of her body just before the vase crashed into a million irreparable pieces. Was she quite sure she wasn’t going crazy?

The angry hornet of her phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. Grabbing it, she checked the screen. There were many more texts and calls than before, and a low-battery warning that said she had less than ten percent power.

A power cord was another thing she hadn’t thought to grab. She made another call to the concierge desk. Then she sat, cupping the phone in her hands and staring into space until a knock sounded at her door and everything she had ordered arrived.

After eating a few bites of pasta and drinking most of the wine, she finally felt calm enough to shower and fall into bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she went out like a light.

After a formless darkness, she found herself in a kitchen.

It was large and Victorian, decorated with yellow-patterned tiles and pale green paint. Warm sunlight streamed through tall windows while outside, someone was gardening. A man with shaggy blond hair walked by, carrying a rake over one broad shoulder.

A woman stood cooking at a clunky, ancient gas stove, her back turned to Molly. Graying hair tumbled down her back. She had a round, comfortable figure, and she wore an old flowered housecoat.

“You’re a noisy one,” the woman said. Her rich, warm voice washed over Molly’s shattered nerves like a soothing balm. “Woke me out of a sound sleep, you did. I thought since I was awake, I might as well scramble a few eggs.”

“I’m sorry if I woke you,” Molly said. “I don’t know how I got here.”

“No? Well, don’t fret about it,” said the woman. “When are you coming to see me?”

“I don’t know that either. I don’t know who you are or where this is. Or, for that matter, what I’m doing here.”

As Molly looked around, she realized she was sitting on a tall stool at a large butcher-block table in the middle of the kitchen. She was wearing the T-shirt she had worn to bed, and her legs were bare. Embarrassed, feeling exposed, she hooked her heels on the edge of her chair and tucked her knees under the shirt.

“Don’t fret about that either,” the woman said. She turned off the stove, stepped away from an iron skillet, and bent over an old stone bowl. “It will come clear with time. Ah yes, I think this spell is about ready now.”

“Excuse me, you didn’t just say spell, did you?”

“As a matter of fact, I did.”

“Now I know I’m dreaming,” Molly muttered. She didn’t know anybody who could cast spells. She had met a few nonhumans over the years, but for the most part the worlds of the Elder Races and their demesnes were a reality that existed far away from her life.

The woman took something out of the bowl. Molly could smell a mixture of lavender and lemon along with a sharp, spicier scent she couldn’t identify. Then, as the woman turned to face Molly, she brought her open palm up to her mouth and blew.

Molly caught a glimpse of dark, powerful eyes. Before she could get a good look at the woman’s face, a cloud of spice and energy enveloped her.

The woman said, “Find me.”

Then the woman, along with the kitchen, faded away, and she slept deep and dreamlessly for the rest of the night.

* * *

“Molly! What on earth are you doing?”

On Saturday, a swirl of Dior perfume wafted over the table as Julia Oliver threw herself into the seat opposite Molly. She was shorter than Molly, and petite, delicately rounded at breast and hip, with dark, curly hair tumbling down her back. Outside the restaurant, bright spring sunlight danced along the sidewalks.

“I’m reading the list of today’s lunch specials,” she said with a quick glance up and a brief, preoccupied smile. “What on earth are youdoing?”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Julia looked up as the waitress came to the table. “I’ll have a lemon drop martini.”

Molly raised her eyebrows. So it was going to be that kind of lunch, was it? Why the hell not? She shut her menu with a snap. “I’ll have the same.”

Their waitress came back quickly with their drinks and took their lunch orders. When she had left, Julia leaned forward. “Everybody’s talking about what happened at your place on Thursday evening.”

“I’m sure they are.” She stretched her neck from side to side to ease the tension in her muscles. She didn’t want to be having lunch with Julia, but the woman had been her best friend for the past five years, and Molly didn’t feel right nottalking to her.

Julia’s gaze was lit with scandalized horror. “Did you really drop some other woman’s panties into Austin’s drink?”

“Yes.”

Julia looked down at her drink, touched the sugared rim, and delicately licked the tip of her finger. “Do you know who the other woman is?”

Molly shook her head. “No, although I’m guessing I’ve met her at some point. You know how actively we’ve been entertaining.”

“And after you confronted him, you just walked out?”

“Yes,” she said again. She took a gulp of her drink. Ah, alcohol.

“I wish Drew hadn’t been so sick. If I could have, I would have been there for you.”

“You couldn’t very well leave your five-year-old with a babysitter when he was running a 102-degree temperature,” she pointed out. “And besides, it’s not like I planned any of it. It just happened.”

“Well, I still wish I could have been there for you.” Julia considered her. “But why didn’t you call to tell me?” A hint of hurt crept into the other woman’s voice.

Molly shrugged and looked around the restaurant. What could she say that would make any sense? That bizarre things kept happening around her and sometimes she thought she was going crazy while at other times she felt certain she was causing them? She had been working hard to hold everything together for the past few months, but Austin and his infidelity had sent her over some kind of edge.

Finally she replied, “I know you would have been there for me, but I was so exhausted, all I did was check into a hotel, order room service, and fall into bed. And yesterday I was busy. I had to go to the bank and look for a lawyer. In fact, I have an appointment with one on Monday. After that, I just slept.”

She had been so tired. She had lain in bed watching the reflected sunlight on the wall until the room slowly fell into darkness.

She was still so tired. She felt like she could sleep for weeks.

“So you’re doing it.” Julia watched her face closely. “You’re really leaving him.”

She nodded. “I’ve already left. Now I’m going to divorce him.”

Julia’s expression twisted, a brief response, and then it smoothed over. “Good riddance then. I always said you deserve worlds better than Austin. But where are you staying?”

“Like I said.” She shrugged. “At a hotel.”

“Would you please come stay with us, so I can make you home-cooked meals and hopefully put a little meat on those bird bones of yours? Austin and Philip might be partners in the same firm, but you know how men are. They compartmentalize. They’ll keep the private stuff separate from work.”

“That means a lot.” Feeling warmed, Molly smiled. “But I’m quite comfortable at the hotel. I’ve got one of their executive suites with a kitchenette.”

Julia’s hazel gaze was serious. “You’re still welcome anytime. I want you to know that.”

“I do.” Molly looked down at her napkin, smoothing the edges with her fingers. “You might as well know I’m thinking about leaving Atlanta too.”

“Noooo.” Julia’s pretty mouth turned down at the corners. “You’re just reacting, that’s all. And it’s understandable. Austin acted like a pig, but this is your home. Your friends are here. Your lifeis here. Your mother’s only forty-five-minutes away!”

Biting her lip, Molly waited until Julia sputtered into silence. Then she said, “My life as I knew it is over. It was slowly smothering me anyway, and I wantit to be over. I’m not flying off the handle or doing anything impulsive. I just can’t imagine staying.”

With a tiny lunge forward, Julia grabbed her hand again. Julia touched people. Molly had seen her do the same thing a dozen times before.

“That’s just how you feel today,” Julia insisted. “Everything has got to be feeling off right now.”

Not wanting to argue further, Molly nodded. “You have a point. In my mind, Atlanta has this huge cloud of unhappiness hanging over it. Eventually I’ll figure out what I need to do. It just may not be here, that’s all.”

“I find this totally unacceptable,” Julia declared while tears sprang to her eyes.

Molly caught their waitress’s eye and tapped the rim of her glass. The waitress smiled and nodded.

Halfway through their second lemon drop, Julia said bitterly, “You’re going to go off and find yourself and leave me here to be a corporate law partner’s wife without you. I’ll bet you’re going to eat all the calories you want and stop shaving your legs and wearing a bra, and you’re probably going to have one-night stands with sweaty mechanics in small towns.”

Despite herself, Molly burst out laughing. “You never know, I might.”

__________________________________

Copyright: 2019 Teddy Harrison LLC

All rights reserved

Pre-order AMERICAN WITCH now!

Amazon  |  B&N |  Apple Books |  Kobo |  Google Play

American Witch preorder Now Available!

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Thea Harrison comes the first in a new spellbinding trilogy…

Power can change a person…

For months Molly Sullivan endures the inexplicable: electrical surges, car breakdowns, visions. She even wonders if she might be the cause… and wonders if she might be crazy. Then she discovers her husband has cheated on her. Again. Now Molly realizes she is a newly awakening witch and a woman pushed over the edge.

Revenge can shape a person…

Josiah Mason is a Powerful witch and the leader of a secret coven with a shared goal: to destroy an ancient enemy who has ruined many lives. Josiah lost years to this man, and his sole focus is revenge. He’s prepared for every contingency—except encountering a beautiful new witch who understands nothing of the immense Power building within her or the attraction she wields over him.

Danger can bring them together…

When divorcing her husband, Molly uncovers a dangerous secret he’s willing to kill to protect. She turns to Josiah for help, and they discover a connection between Molly’s husband and Josiah’s enemy.

As they work together, a spark ignites between them that threatens to become an inferno. But Molly is done compromising herself for any man, and Josiah’s mission is his top priority. And the enemy is cunning, cruel, and drawing ever closer.

As the danger escalates, so does the tension between them. Is a lasting relationship possible? Will either of them live long enough to try?